Mitsubishi Electric: Changes for the Better

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MEAF is Going Green

posted April 22, 2009
Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (MEAF) is pleased to wish everyone a happy Earth Day and to announce it is "going green!"

Look for the "green" MEAF logo on www.meaf.org to learn more about the Foundation and its environmental-related initiatives--from our efforts to reduce paper use in the office to our national grant-making activities to promote environmental awareness by youth. These initiatives are designed to work in concert with Environmental Vision 2021 (EV2021).

In commemoration of its 100th anniversary in 2021, the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation established EV2021 with the motto of "making positive contributions to the earth and its people through technology and action." You can learn more about EV2021 and its goals of reducing global warming, creating a recycling-based society, and fostering environmental awareness by visiting www.mitsubishielectric.com/eco/index.html

Below are just a few examples of how MEAF, our national and local nonprofit partners, and Mitsubishi Electric employees throughout the U.S. are working to promote environmental conservation, protection, and awareness, while simultaneously striving to reach the Foundation mission of helping youth with disabilities maximize their potential and participation in society. MEAF is proud to support these green initiatives incorporating technology and action to help the planet on Earth Day and the whole year through.

MEAF-supported National Projects

* The Corps Network is piloting an Inclusive Crew Model in Minnesota, Utah, and Wisconsin to develop opportunities for young people with disabilities to be providers, rather than recipients, of service. These young corps members are working in city parks and the national forests to help preserve and protect the natural environment-- www.corpsnetwork.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=84

* National Wildlife Federation developed Happening Habitats to help students and teachers learn how to create an accessible outdoor classroom-- happeninhabitats.pwnet.org/. As an outgrowth of this initiative, the program creator Bethe Almeras (a.k.a. the Grass Stain Guru) offers advice on how to get kids of all abilities off the couch and out-of-doors on her blog-- grassstainguru.com/.

* Wilderness Inquiry takes anyone, anywhere, anytime and offers inclusion training to organizations like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to help them learn how to fully include young people with disabilities in outdoor adventure settings--www.wildernessinquiry.org/programs/. This has led to the Girl Scouts of the USA Include All Girls initiative to help leaders better include girls of all abilities in natural settings-- www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/our_partners/corporations_foundations/mitsubishi_electric_and_electronics.asp.

* Continuing a project begun with Easter Seals, Kids Included Together (a premier inclusion-training organization) is partnering with organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, YMCA, and the Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation Department, to help kids with and without disabilities to be able to fully participate in after-school time and recreation settings. These and other partners developed Paths to Inclusion and www.IncludingAllkids.org to serve as inclusion resources for youth-serving professionals and volunteers. Building on this inclusion initiative, MEAF, the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, and the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, have recently partnered together on Lets All Play, an initiative to help organizations like the YMCA include youth with disabilities-- www.bubelaiken.org/GrantsPrograms/LetsALLPlay/tabid/106/Default.aspx


<>Local Employee-driven Volunteer Projects

* CYPRESS, CA--Earlier this month, volunteers with the ACTiVE Committee and the GREEN Team at Mitsubishi Electric and Electronics USA, Inc. partnered with volunteers from Asplundh Forestry, as well as students from the HOPE School (many with severe disabilities) in a Plant and Learn Project to plant trees and promote forest education.

* CINCINNATI, OH--The ECHO Committee at Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America, Inc. in Mason, OH has an on-going partnership with Cincinnati-based Crayons to Computers--a free supply store for teachers. Employee volunteers have recycled 3000 lbs of scrap plastic material to create educational toys, which are given away at the store. This helps meet company ISO 14001 environmental and EV2021 goals, but more importantly it reduces waste and helps kids in need, particularly those with learning disabilities. This project won the MEAF M.O.V.E. (Mitsubishi Electric Organized Volunteer Efforts) Award for outstanding project in 2008. www.meaf.org/philanthropy-volunteers.php

* WARRENDALE, PA--This coming weekend, at the suggestion of Japanese employees at Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc., employee volunteers with the HOPE Committee will plant Japanese Cherry Trees in the community so all can appreciate the beauty of the spring Cherry Blossoms.

* MT. FUJI, JAPAN--Speaking of Japan and trees, MEAF program officer Kevin Webb had the privilege of traveling to Japan in March where he participated in the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Satoyama Project to help reforest Mt. Fuji. Planting a Japanese Oak on the shoulder of that majestic mountain was, says Kevin, "a thrill beyond compare."

MEAF will continue to seek ways in which it can help youth with disabilities: appreciate the wonders of nature, contribute to environmental conservation efforts, and benefit from and participate in the bounties the earth provides.

From all of us at MEAF...Happy Earth Day!

Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation
1560 Wilson Blvd.
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