BOSTON VOLVO DEALER HONORED FOR GOOD WORKS
DEALERS’ DEDICATION TO COMMUNITIES, CAUSES EARNS FORD MOTOR COMPANY ‘SALUTE TO DEALERS’ AWARD
Raymond J. Ciccolo earns Ford Motor Company’s annual ‘Salute To Dealers’ award
BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 31, 2007 – Family and children are everything to Raymond J. Ciccolo, a Boston Volvo dealer for 44 years. That’s why the father of three and grandfather of seven finds himself driven to share the blessings in his life with children who are less fortunate than his own.
Ciccolo, president of Village Automotive Group and its flagship Boston Volvo Village dealership, has been actively involved with charitable organizations for more than 40 years, donating his time and resources to such causes as medical missions, mentoring programs, homelessness, toy and clothing drives, education and safety initiatives.
“I’ve lived the American Dream, so I feel a mandate to give back to society a piece of all that I have been blessed with,” Ciccolo said. “I have been very fortunate over the years and enjoy giving back to the community.”
For his outstanding corporate citizenship, Ford Motor Company has named Ciccolo among the nine recipients of its seventh annual Salute To Dealers award.
One of Ciccolo’s favorite organizations is Best Buddies, which is dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment. Volvo is a major supporter of Best Buddies and Ciccolo has championed the cause.
Each year for the past nine years, Ciccolo hosts – and runs in – the Boston Volvo Thanksgiving 5K Road Race, which raises thousands of dollars each year for Best Buddies.
“Ray is compassionate and dedicated to our mission of social inclusion,” said Audrey Katz, state director, Best Buddies Massachusetts. “He is always available and willing to help in any way possible, from fund-raising to publicity and program expansion.”
Best Buddies client Blythe Brown has worked with Ciccolo on the 5K race and Volvo Best Buddies Challenge, a 90-mile bike ride fund-raiser. “Ray has been really helpful,” Brown said. “Best Buddies has changed my life.”
The organization employs Brown as a part-time office assistant and helped her find her “dream job” at a local beauty products store. A job coach helps ensure Brown succeeds while the Best Buddies Citizens program pairs her with volunteers who have become great friends. “We go to the movies and dinner and play with my friend’s baby,” said Brown, who also speaks to high school and college students at the group’s annual leadership conference.
Ciccolo’s charitable efforts extend well beyond his community. He is a board member of Medical Missions for Children, which works to provide care for critically ill children in less developed countries, and has been active in the group’s overseas trips to impoverished areas.
Although Ciccolo is not a trained health care worker, he helps in any way he can on the trips, pitching in on logistics and transportation and running supplies from storage to the operating room. Based on the experiences he has had on the trips and the impact they make, Ciccolo has committed to sponsor an annual trip to India for the next five years.
“Ray and I have been involved together in humanitarian work close to 20 years,” said Dr. Usama Hamdan, president and CEO of Medical Missions for Children. “His is wonderful. He has the biggest heart. I wish there were more people like him. It would make the world a better place.”
Ciccolo’s love of family and children also led him to The Alliance for Children Foundation, an international relief organization dedicated to improving the physical and emotional well-being of abandoned children living in orphanages in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
“When Ray heard that children could be taken out of orphanages to live in families and have homes in Sunbeam Village, he immediately offered his support,” Executive Director Filis M. Casey said, referring Ciccolo’s support of the family-style living program established by the foundation to provide the warmth of a family, nutrition and hope for the future. “Ray’s advice and enthusiasm allowed us to expand our efforts in helping many orphaned children.”
Ciccolo’s commitment has allowed the foundation to take advantage of the Chinese government’s offer of a building in Yulin, which will give the children there the experience of a family. “Together we make a marvelous team, destined to be successful because with Ray anything is possible,” Casey said.
Ciccolo does much more. He has established a college endowment that awards a scholarship every year to an underprivileged student. He and his wife serve Thanksgiving dinner for the elderly while Ciccolo’s dealerships collect gifts for the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program and clothing for the region’s needy. Ciccolo also speaks at school vocational events, participates in blood drives, sponsors inner-city children’s attendance at major sporting events, promotes employment of the less fortunate, supports Child Safety Day and semi-annually sponsors employees and others in the SkidSchool driving training program.
Through it all, Ciccolo is modest and describes his efforts as simply being grateful for his good fortune. “The organizations I support, both financially and personally, I do for the sake of doing, not for any accolades and awards,” Ciccolo said. “But I am genuinely proud to be so acknowledged and accepted on behalf of all the people I have been able to help over the years.”
Salute To Dealers was established in 2001 to demonstrate Ford Motor Company’s commitment to its dealer principals who improve the lives of those in need in their communities while providing outstanding products and services. The program is conducted under the guidance of Edsel B. Ford II, great-grandson of Henry Ford and a member of Ford’s Board of Directors.
“Ray’s involvement in and dedication to his community underscore Ford’s commitment to making a difference in the places where we work and live,” Ford said. “He is inspiring.”
This year, 71 exceptional dealers from 26 states and two countries were nominated for the seventh annual award. Dealer principals representing all Ford Motor Company brands – Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda, Land Rover and Aston Martin – are eligible to be nominated by a regional representative. A panel of judges selects the honorees based on the dealer’s individual activities, length of participation and personal motivation.
This year’s award recipients will be honored February 2 at a private reception preceding the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in Las Vegas. Ford Motor Company commissioned a portrait of each honoree depicting in montage form the dealer’s involvement in his or her community. These portraits commemorating the corporate citizenship efforts of the 2007 honorees will join those of previous honorees in a special display in the lobby of Ford Motor Company’s World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.