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Employees from Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) and its Southern Region Office in Jacksonville with assistance from a local dealership, Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville, recently delivered a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Passenger Van to Kim's Open Door, an area nonprofit whose volunteers serve the city's at-risk children by providing them with access to mentorship, educational assistance, the arts and local community events.
Kim's Open Door acquired the pre-owned Sprinter with financial assistance from MBUSA to offset any associated costs. Together with Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville, employees from the company's Southern Region Office and its Mercedes-Benz Vans team worked to pinpoint the most suitable vehicle to buy. From there, the Sprinter was shipped to Mercedes-Benz USA where its team of Jacksonville- based engineers and technicians donated more than 300 hours of their personal time to refurbish the vehicle to an optimal mechanical condition. Concurrently, employees at Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville donated their time and resources to repair damage to the van's body.
"Mercedes-Benz USA, its employees and dealer partners are proud to be a part of the Jacksonville community. We are grateful for every opportunity, big or small, to lend a helping hand to those dedicated to making a positive impact in the lives of our city's most vulnerable children," said Mike Nolte, general manager, southern region, Mercedes-Benz USA. "We would like to thank our employees, especially our Vans team, and our partners at Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville who generously and selflessly volunteered their personal time and expertise to help make this possible."
The newly acquired Sprinter Passenger Van will help the Jacksonville-based organization distribute meals to families battling food insecurity as well as double its capacity to transport children in the community, many of whom are recently settled refugees, to and from activities.
"Our employees noticed that the volunteers at Kim's Open Door was in need of affordable and reliable transportation for the children. We realized our resources and expertise, especially in commercial vans, could really benefit them," said Christian Barwig, department manager, Mercedes-Benz Vans, whose team in Jacksonville helped spearhead the effort. "I'm really proud of the way we came together, not only as Mercedes-Benz employees, but also as members of the community to help such a worthwhile organization."
The Sprinter is the most recent work of "MBUSA Curbside Caring," an initiative of the company's Greatness Lives Here community outreach program. The luxury carmaker's support of organizations such as Kim's Open Door is one of the many efforts it has undertaken in recent years to assist communities in which MBUSA employees live and work. The company is donating 100 meals per week to Kim's Open Door during the 2020-2021 school year to help combat hunger among students participating in the organization's reading program and their siblings at home. Last year, MBUSA prepared 2,500 meals for needy families in Jacksonville and enabled thousands more to be delivered by donating the use of 13 Mercedes-Benz Sprinters to organizations that feed the city's most vulnerable residents.
"We are thankful for Mercedes-Benz USA and their employees whose continued support has helped us provide nutrition along with education and the arts for hundreds of underserved children and families in Jacksonville," said Kim Bogart, founder of Kim's Open Door. "Kids need our services now more than ever and this new-to-us Sprinter van will enable our team to increase the number of families we serve."
Visit mbusa.com or kimsopendoor.com for more information.
[05.17.21]
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Create-A-Card Founder & CEO Arthur Messina and Limo Marketer Founder & Owner Mark Petree will be presenting a free Zoom webinar this Wednesday, May 12 at 2 p.m.
The session is designed to educate transportation companies on how to book more rides with the use of Google in 2021. They will be joined by transportation company owners who are currently working with this program to help increase their rides during the recovery. Hear from corporate transportation provider Derek Stattford of Elegant Image Limousine in California and retail provider Andres Acevedo of New York’s Limo Star as they discuss the successes they are having using Google to book more rides and how their follow-up system is working for them.
To join the meeting on Zoom, use meeting ID# 84717750666 and password 654321.
Visit createacardinc.com for more information.
[05.11.20]
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On its 100th birthday, and despite the difficulties the chauffeur industry is facing with the COVID pandemic, Chabé has reached a decisive milestone for its international development with the opening of its London-based international hub. The group is now Europe’s largest operator with an employed chauffeur model and direct presence in the UK, France, Switzerland, and Monaco.
“I am really proud on the 100th year of Chabé to announce the expansion of the business into London as a key strategic market and simultaneously the creation of our leading network servicing 100 countries worldwide. We have truly internationalized the business and are now catering to international clients as well as domestic European demand. We are offering to all our clients a truly global service,” said Chabé Group CEO Guillaume Connan.
David Bruce, UK CEO, leads the expansion of Chabé in the UK and has attracted a team that has extensive experience in the industry.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to build the Chabé business out in London and set up the international trading hub to serve our clients around the world, as well as adding new services specifically for the Financial services market,” said Bruce.
From London, Chabé has developed an integrated network of partners, considered among the best operators in the industry. Chabé selects its partners based on their service capability, their compliance with legal requirements and their commitment to deliver consistent high standards of service. Partners are all bound by a common service level agreement, including COVID-related safety measures and overall duty of care.
Nivin Salem is responsible for all International Operations for Chabé Group and is based in London.
“Chabé’s clients look for a seamless managed service for all their international needs. They can rely on us to deliver international service at the highest standard that Chabé is known for and we guarantee duty of care for every single passenger. We are delivering a service assured, door-to-door international service to all our clients,” said Salem.
Chabé offers ground transportation operators, in particular American ones, a one-stop shop for Europe through its London operations, delivering a high and consistent quality of service, reducing the booking/ monitoring and administrative burden for their teams, all at competitive rates.
“As international travel resumes, we see a strong demand for our international services from existing and new customers. We are ready and willing to support all operators as we all work hard to get business back to its pre-COVID levels, and very much look forward to meeting again in person our friends and colleagues from the industry,” added Connan.
Visit chabe.fr for more information.
[05.11.21]