Committed to his community

When Meon became the Principal Dealer at Terry Shields Toyota in July 2021, he wasn’t aware of the services and supports provided by Northcott. It wasn’t long however, before the long association between Northcott and Terry Shields Toyota caught his attention.

“My philosophy is that a portion of your profit needs to go back to your community, because the community supports your business. So when I heard about the longstanding partnership with Northcott I thought it sounded fantastic and said, ‘we’ll obviously continue with that’,” he explains.

Under Meon’s leadership, Terry Shields Toyota has four pillars for its community support – not-for-profit, special needs, local schools and local sport. Northcott fits the bill as a local not-for-profit, but it is our work supporting people with disability to achieve their potential that has Meon most interested.

The partnership

The Parramatta dealership has been a Northcott Corporate Partner since 2018, but collaboration between the two organisations goes back far longer. Terry Shields Toyota has been supporting Northcott for more than 15 years, sponsoring and attending several of our previous fundraising activities including Gala Dinners (as the pre-dinner drinks sponsor), Charity Golf Day and ‘Walk With Me’ awareness raising initiative.

Staff have also been involved in corporate volunteering opportunities at our inclusive carnivals for children with disability. In more recent years, the dealership has been a generous Matching Hero for our Giving Day fundraising initiative in 2020 and 2021 to support children with disability. Their contribution, along with other Matching Heroes, formed the portion of funds that ensured donations from the community on the day were doubled.

Sponsorship from Terry Shields Toyota has also helped to fund equipment, resources and items needed for our Café Thanks a Latte training program. This unique program gives participants in our Vocational Skills service that chance to learn hospitality skills in a café-setting run within Northcott’s offices. With support from Terry Shields Toyota, we were able to expand this program to multiple Northcott sites across Sydney and develop specific staff training and program materials.

Inspired by first-hand experience

At a visit to Northcott after the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, Meon was lucky to experience Café Thanks a Latte first-hand.

“Participants training in the café in the Parramatta office came to ask us for our order and made us a coffee. I thought it was beautiful. I think everyone has an opportunity to work within the community no matter what, so I really like how Northcott is supporting people by developing their skills for various roles,” he says.

The interaction inspired Meon to think creatively about other ways Terry Shields Toyota can support Northcott and children and adults with disability.

“My goal is to grow our partnership with Northcott. I’ll be guided by Northcott’s Fundraising team as to how we can do that, but I’d like to see where our staff can engage more with Northcott such as in workshops or working bees at Northcott offices now that the restrictions of COVID are behind us.

“I’d like to expose our staff to what Northcott does so they can gain an understanding of some of the challenges people with disability and their families face. I also want to further explore how we can collaboratively support that work,” he says.

“I would love to see how automotive retailers within the Parramatta area can come together to support Northcott. My goal is to bring us all together so that collectively we can support something bigger and better for Northcott.”