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GM Canada Launches Community Wheels Program in Halifax

GM Community Wheels wins 2006 Community Spirt Award

On June 12th, Susan Burris accepted a 2006 Community Spirit Award on behalf of GM and the GM Community Wheels program. This award was given in recognition of the impact on the lives of Halifax residents for making the community more accessible and therefore improving the health and happiness of seniors, adults and children. The Community Spirit Award was a way for the United Way of Halifax Region to thank GM Canada for our spirit of community.

Susan Burris, District Manager Service - Atlantic Zone, Beverly
Hickman-Southcott, Margurite Centre; Bev Cadham, Canadian Mental Health
Association Halifax/Dartmouth; Chris Baert-Wilson, VON of Greater Halifax
and Deborah Dostal, Spencer House Seniors' Centre

This is the fourth Corporate Social Responsibility Award GM's Community Wheels has received. For more information on Community Wheels, click here.

Halifax, Nova Scotia (Tuesday, April 26, 2005) - General Motors of Canada announced today it is donating six new vans to the United Way of Halifax Region for use by their agencies that have transportation needs.

David Paterson, Vice President, Corporate & Environmental Affairs, General Motors of Canada said, "We are pleased to provide these vehicles to United Way of Halifax Region knowing the United Way agencies will leverage them to better serve their clients in the Halifax-Dartmouth community. There is no better organization than the United Way to truly reach a broad number of people in the community. From the beginning, we received great partnership and energy to get the wheels in motion to bring this program to Halifax .”

“We are delighted with the generous gift GM has donated to our community,” says Joanne Linzey, CEO of United Way of Halifax Region. “We received applications from close to 20 agencies expressing their need for affordable transportation. Many thanks to the GM Community Wheels program for such a significant and worthwhile contribution to our community.”

GM Community Wheels provides new Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn vans to local organizations that require vehicles as part of their efforts to help people in the community. GM Community Wheels was piloted in Edmonton with United Way of the Alberta Capital Region in 2003, and since then GM has expanded the program to include Vancouver , Montreal , Quebec and today, Halifax .

Natasha Croke and Devin Fiander are 10 years old and both are members of the Preston Boys and Girls Club. The club is one of the recipients of a GM Community Wheels van. Natasha and Devin are only two of the kids from the club but they are excited enough for everyone. "I want to go to the beach with the other kids. Crafts and computers are fun, and now the van can take us to see more of our community. If we get lost we can call OnStar. It's so great," said Natasha. Devin is already planning a bowling trip. "I like all of the things we get to do at the club. I like basketball and sports and having fun with my friends but now we can go bowling and watch a DVD on the way. The van is so cool."

Since launching in the summer of 2003, GM Community Wheels vehicles across the country have delivered over 500,000 hot lunches to schools, transported over 5,000 new Canadian immigrants and their families to community services and programs, transported just under 2.5 million kilograms of food and over 13,000 food hampers per month. As well, the vans have transported more than 1,400 children to summer day camp programs and provided countless numbers of seniors with access to social, recreational and health programs.

In Halifax , use of the vans will result in greater community participation and will help make it easier for organizations to connect to the community. The natural result will be stronger relationships and a greater sense of belonging.

GM plays an active role in communities across the country with programs like GM Community Wheels, which offers a turnkey solution to the transportation needs of community agencies by providing them with GM vehicles; Saturn Kidspace is another program that assists communities in need of safe places for children to play. To date, more than 300 playgrounds have been built as part of this initiative.