Apprentices from Worcester-based
Yamazaki Mazak UK Ltd have raised more than £1,300 for the
Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC) thanks to a bank holiday car wash. On 24 May, Yamazaki Mazak apprentices washed just shy of 100 cars outside the European headquarters, with the manufacturer matching the total raised to double up the final tally.
The MAAC provides support to residents across six Midlands counties from three different air bases, including Strensham on the Worcestershire-Gloucestershire border, and has responded to more than 75,000 missions since its inception in 1991.
Matt Palmer, a machining aapprentice at Yamazaki Mazak, said: “MAAC does so much for our local community. Given the high cost of running and maintaining such a critical service, we wanted to make our own contribution to help the charity continue its life-saving work. It was great to see so many cars come in for a pre-bank holiday clean while supporting a worthy cause.”
The car wash was the latest in a series of fundraising activities organised by Mazak’s apprentice cohort over the past year. These have included internal competitions and sports events, as well as food bank and toy donations for a variety of charitable organisations, such as Acorns Children’s Hospice and the Salvation Army.
Max Jones, people development manager at Yamazaki Mazak, added: “Our apprentices have a great track record of supporting local charities and the latest car wash for the MAAC has been one of our most successful fundraising initiatives to date. The event was fully organised by the current apprentice cohort so the company was more than delighted to match the money raised like for like.”
Wiktoria Jaworska, corporate partnerships executive for MAAC, concluded: “We would like to say a huge thank you to Yamazaki Mazak UK Ltd for raising £1,300 for our critical lifesaving pre-hospital emergency service. Funds raised will help fund four missions in our fleet of critical care cars.”