Volunteerism back in vogue for Big 3
Source: Detroit News
June 18, 2012 at 1:00 am
Volunteerism back in vogue for Big 3
By Melissa Burden
The Detroit News
General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson hadn't been in Detroit long before he dropped off a check at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen on the city's east side. Akerson wasn't looking for fanfare. There was no GM entourage in tow. In fact, soup kitchen representatives had no idea the man offering his help and leaving a sizable donation was the head of the world's largest automaker.
"We have been very blessed and as I said when I came in, I think you can do well, but you can do oh-so-much more for the community outside of the business," Akerson said during a recent interview after helping serve French toast. He and his wife, Karin, will chair the soup kitchen's annual dinner Oct. 19.
"So, first and foremost from a company perspective, I think the best thing I can do is make sure General Motors does well. That cascades through the community. But then you see a soup kitchen like this, and you recognize that you can do even more."
Akerson, Chrysler Group LLC Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne and other automotive executives are leading a rejuvenated charge of volunteerism and community support that is being emulated by the lower-management ranks and rank-and-file automotive company workers. With GM and Chrysler each seeking new livelihoods out of bankruptcies, the companies have again opened the corporate coffers. Their contributions go beyond typical board work and corporate donations.Akerson has become a major benefactor to the Motor City since his 2010 arrival as GM's CEO. In February, he and Karin gave $1 million to Habitat for Humanity Detroit to help revitalize the MorningSide Commons neighborhood. While living in the Washington, D.C., area, the couple gave nearly $500,000 to help So Others Might Eat, a nonprofit that provides permanent housing to low-income and homeless people.
Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120618/AUTO01/206180325#ixzz1y7SBTPm1
And a hearty FUCK YOU to Willard Rmoney!
Never forget this:
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
By MITT ROMNEY
Published: November 18, 2008
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.
more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
