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VISION Community Outreach Committee Has a Busy October

Vernon Hills, Illinois - November 12, 2019
The VISION Committee is a volunteer group made up of Mitsubishi Electric Automation employees, and holds various charitable events throughout the year. In October, the committee was especially busy.

On October 17, 2019, VISION attended an event run by the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Each volunteer took on a task related to inspecting, sorting, labeling and repacking frozen meat products. Any unacceptable product was shipped to the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue, where it was fed to tigers, lions, and other rescued wildcats. With the assistance of the NIFB employees, the VISION volunteers were able to pack 7,000 pounds of product, which provides 5,833 meals to hungry neighbors.

Later that month, on October 24, the VISION committee partnered with the Northern Suburban Special Education District to offer a Disability Mentoring Day to students. Disability Mentoring Day is a national program that promotes career development for students and job seekers with disabilities through job shadowing. Fourteen students participated in a tour of Mitsubishi Electric Automation’s Vernon Hills facility, and then shadowed employees for two hours.

Based on feedback from teachers and parents, students found the work engaging and interesting. One student indicated that he may have found a new passion after shadowing robot repair. Employees mentored students in different departments, including Accounting, Assembly, Customer Care, Food Services, Information Technology, Logistics, Maintenance, Repair, and Robotics Field Application.

“These past two events were especially rewarding for the volunteers,” said Andrew Grzelak, chairman of the VISION Committee. “Helping to feed the hungry is worth every second of time that we devote to it. And, seeing the students take interest in the work we do during Disability Mentoring Day was a joy to all of us.”

To learn more about the VISION Committee, click here.