I am being compensated as part of the 3 month long #SiennaDiaries series but all opinions are my own and based on our experiences with the Toyota Sienna.
One of the requirements for our family’s participation in the 3 month long Toyota #SiennaDiaries program was to give back to our community and because we’re a family that believes in the work of organizations to place animals in new homes, we wanted to do something to benefit our local humane society. Our passion for helping homeless animals comes directly from our appreciation of the local rescue group that connected us with Oliver, our 6 year old Yellow Labrador. With so many animals in need of homes, we focused on the Montgomery County Humane Society.
The Montgomery County Humane Society is the largest animal welfare organization in Montgomery County, Maryland. Located just north of Washington, D.C., the Humane Society provides shelter and care to thousands of homeless animals every year and offers foster care, rescue placements, adoption counseling, behavior seminars, and other assistance benefitting members of our community, and of course, animals.
The Humane Society website details many different ways to help including volunteering, monetary donations, and giving tangible goods like towels, blankets, and newspapers but what really caught my eye was the ability to donate items to their Wagging Tales thrift store where items are resold to benefit the animals. Just like many families, the process of purging in our home is ongoing. We’re always trying to sort through outgrown clothes and pass along gently used toys so they can be shared with others in our community and Wagging Tails seemed like the perfect recipient for our donations.
Usually the process of cleaning closets is a painstaking process left to me but this time, the kids got really involved. They combed their rooms, scrutinizing toys they no longer played with and had fun flinging clothes that no longer fit on the floor that were scooped up and boxed up for donation. It was also a good time for me to donate some sample products that I reviewed over the holidays and are in great shape but need to be shared with others before they become obsolete.
Together we packed the Sienna to capacity! As you can see, there was little room left for anything else but all for a great cause! Stopping at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter to deliver new towels and driving around the corner to unload at Wagging Tails filled us with a sense of great accomplishment for spending part of our weekend doing something good for animals that we hope will find loving homes soon.
This kind of generosity is part of the core of who Toyota is as a company. Toyota has been committed to giving back throughout the 55 years they’ve been in the United States. Over the past 10 years, they’ve given half a billion dollars towards education, safety, and environmental programs. They partner with well known organizations such as The National Park Foundation and National Public Lands Day and have created their own efforts like the TogetherGreen with the Audubon Society, Toyota International Teacher Foundation, Toyota USA Foundation that supports K-12 STEM education, Toyota Driving Expectations, 100 Cars for Good, and Toyota Dealer Match Program where they provide $10,000 in matching funds for local dealerships involved in charitable giving in their communities.
It was our pleasure to support Toyota’s commitment to social good and charitable giving in our community through my family’s involvement in #SiennaDiaries.
