Ford offers environmental grants

The Ford Motor Company today launched its 2004 Conservation and Environmental Grants Programme in Belize, making us one of more than sixty countries participating in the initiative. This is the second year Ford and one of its subsidiaries, Jaguar, is providing funding for non-profit groups and individuals working to enhance environmental conservation and cultural heritage in Belize. According to Ford’s Central America and Caribbean District Manager, Steve Randal, the company is offering ten thousand dollars to conservation projects, and an additional fifty thousand dollars under the Jaguar trust, for projects having to do with wildcats.

Steve Randal, Regional Manager, Ford Motor Company

?We can fund projects under environmental conservation or education, cultural heritage conservation and education, and also conservation engineering. Those are the three categories that we evaluate.?

?It?s not that we come and say that we want to sponsor a specific project, like collecting bottles and cans for recycling. Because there are a lot of great projects that are already happening here in Belize, but what they need is some additional funding, some recognition so that they can get additional sponsorship and recognition within the country, and we want to further those efforts. Rather than to try to start something new is to work with the existing projects that are already in place. And there are a ton of them and ton of them worthy of our support, and we wish we could support them all, but unfortunately we can?t.?

Patrick Jones

?What does the Ford Motor Company get out of this??

Steve Randal

?It?s really the way that we, it is a part of who we are and what we do. We are a family run company. We?ve been in business for a hundred years, and its kind of, the continuing legacy of Ford Motor Company is to make it a better place as Bill Ford stated. We do environmental programmes throughout the world, but also it?s not just environmental and cultural, we also are very involved actively in community projects in the countries where we do business.?

Application forms are available from Ford’s local agent, Belize Estate and Company Limited, and Bel-Caribe Communications. September seventeenth is the submission deadline, after which a panel of judges led by international spokesperson, Stephanie Powers, will decide which projects will be funded. Ford has launched two websites where interested persons or groups can get more information about this year’s grant. Those addresses are: www.ford-environmentalgrants.com and www.ford.com.