GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

This is GM and a local citizen going above and beyond for the benefit of those least able.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Sept. 12, 2012

Thank you Veronika Scott for creating the best coat money cannot buy.

A GM release describes how leftover sound absorbing material from production Malibu’s and Verano’s are being used to create a waterproof coats that transform into a sleeping bag for the homeless.

The coats are a vision of Veronika Scott, a Detroit humanitarian whose Empowerment Plan is working with GM for the source material.

Scott initially designed the coat to sleeping bag to fulfill a classroom requirement while a junior at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies. Since December 2010, she has employed eight homeless women full time, making 150 coats each month. The coats have been available since February 2011 and are distributed to homeless outreach organizations in Detroit and across the nation.

Her philanthropic exploits do not stop there as Scott also helps her employees find housing and achieve financial independence.

Veronika Scott: “With GM’s help and recommendations, I was able to incorporate a sustainable, durable and practical product that benefits struggling community members.”

The insulating material called Sonozorb is manufactured in different shapes to fit within door cavities and vehicle compartments for sound absorption. Automotive supplier GDC makes the coat insulation material exclusively from the leftover scrap, reprocessing it for reuse.

In addition to donating 2,000 yards of the material (enough to make 400 coats), GM has reused the highly oil absorbent material in the Gulf oil spill cleanup.

This coat-making activity is part of GM’s commitment to waste reduction, recycling and reuse. Last year, the company recycled or reused 2.5 million metric tons at its facilities worldwide. That is equivalent to more than 38 million trash bags of garbage not sent to a landfill.

Thank You GM and thank you Veronica. I bet I could use a unique convertible coat like this given my own driving exploits over the years ;)

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

You know, I bet that somewhere there's some GM hating person who will find something wrong with this.

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

Nothing wrong with the coats, as long as a one-way bus ticket to Detroit is provided.. also they should put some bright GM logos on the back, for visibility and safety in a blizzard.. plus a bit of do-goodism marketing. Everybody wins, GM, the employed homeless and the welfare bureaucracy in Detroit.. they must be very efficient by now.

Plus it would be good to keep Obama occupied come January 2013... as I said everyone wins!

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

also include some methane trapping materials to the inside of the coats.. this would save the planet from AGW also.

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

Give a man a fish ....



/whoops. sorry. .. very UN PC of me to bring that one up

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

Hi All:

An update to this story.

GM Awards GDC with Supplier Environmental Excellence

GDC, a Tier One component supplier based in Goshen, IN, is being recognized with the GM Environmental Excellence Award for its consistent collaboration in supplying recycled-content parts and contributing to community-based stewardship and recycling initiatives.

GDC was instrumental in helping insulate sleeping bags for the homeless and turning oil-soaked booms into parts for the Chevrolet Volt.

Enabling the donation of GM scrap vehicle material for coats that transform into sleeping bags for the homeless: The coats are the brainchild of humanitarian Veronika Scott, whom GM approached with an unconventional idea for their insulation: leftover sound absorption material from production of Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Verano sedans. The material is GDC’s Sonozorb -- manufactured in different shapes to fit within door cavities and vehicle compartments for sound absorption. GDC now reprocesses small pieces of that leftover scrap into large fabric rolls, used to enhance the coat’s warmth.

Wayne

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

I should not be to snarky about this, those coats may come in handy during the next ice age..

Re: GM and Local Designer Provides Warmth to the Homeless
 

Herm, lol . . .