News from Volvo: Top management at the Warwick Head Office of Volvo Trucks received a soaking this afternoon as they took part in the Ice Bucket Challenge in aid of charity.
As the price for taking part, Volvo Trucks is making a generous donation to the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) charity. This is the UK equivalent of the American ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) charity that started the worldwide phenomenon that has truly gone viral across all media. Motor Neurone Disease is known as ALS in the USA.
The decision to take part in the challenge was made unanimously by a team of 14 people. The team, which comprised Volvo Trucks executives and Managing Directors from the dealer network, were motivated to take part, says Volvo Trucks’ Marketing & PR Director Amanda Hiatt, following the untimely death, in 2013, of much loved and highly regarded, retired Volvo employee Martin Phippard.
“Martin was an amazing man,” explained Hiatt. “He was loved and respected by customers and colleagues alike. He bore his struggles with Motor Neurone Disease with the tremendous strength of character he displayed throughout his life. We did the Ice Bucket Challenge in memory of Martin and his wonderful family and friends in the transport community all over the country who did so much to support him. We are absolutely delighted that we were able to make a generous donation to MNDA in memory of a true friend of Volvo and of the transport industry.”
Volvo Trucks’ participation in the Ice Bucket Challenge received a compelling twist, adds Hiatt, when employees were invited to throw buckets of freezing water over the executive of their choice in return for a donation to MNDA. “It brought a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘pouring cold water on management’s ideas’,” she quipped.
Finally, in the ‘tradition’ of the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’, Volvo Trucks has nominated the executive management teams at rival truck manufacturers DAF, Mercedes and Scania to take part.
