Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems donated nearly $250,000 through corporate grants, employee sponsorships, donations, and employee fundraisers in 2016, benefiting nonprofits and community organizations across North America.
Bendix says activities included local-level employee-driven projects; community initiatives funded by Bendix; and programs supported by Knorr-Bremse Global Care. Global Care is a nonprofit organization founded by the Knorr-Bremse Group, Bendix’s parent company, to give those in need (through no fault of their own) a chance to lead more independent lives. In all cases, Bendix employees continued their long tradition of contributing time and talent to help the communities around them.
“We are incredibly proud of the efforts of our employees, and thankful as well for the support from Knorr-Bremse Global Care to carry out these initiatives,” says Maria Gutierrez, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability at Bendix. “Social responsibility is not only core to Bendix corporate values, but woven into our culture. Those values are displayed by the generosity of everyone from corporate leadership to the men and women at every Bendix location.”
In 2016, Bendix parent company Knorr-Bremse instituted the Get Involved! program as a key instrument of Global Care. Get Involved! supports projects submitted by employees of Knorr-Bremse companies worldwide, who must already be personally involved in the project to gain approval.
Four Bendix locations across North America participated in the Get Involved! program in 2016, completing 16 projects in education, health protection, and social infrastructure, the company says.
In addition to Get Involved!, volunteering efforts saw significant growth in 2016 through Bendix’s corporate volunteering program. The program launched in 2015, mainly at the Elyria headquarters, and was deployed across all Bendix locations in 2016. From 2015 to 2016, Bendix increased its number of corporate-sponsored events during work time by 85 percent, jumping from 13 to 24. Bendix nearly doubled its number of volunteers and more than doubled its total volunteer hours, reaching 4,390 hours for the year, the company says.
“Volunteerism at the local level means so much to the employees at each Bendix location,” Gutierrez says. “In addition to the good this work brings to our communities, we truly believe that providing employee engagement and community outreach opportunities locally can boost intangibles – such as morale, productivity, and loyalty – and help develop deeper bonds among fellow Bendix team members.”
Also in 2016, Bendix says it implemented revised guidelines for Local Care, part of the Bendix Corporate Responsibility program. Local Care fuels the company’s ongoing dedication to supporting communities and aims to grow active social involvement among employees through leadership and project management experience.
In another effort, Bendix donated $10,000 to sponsor a week-long summer experience designed to engage local rising ninth- through twelfth-grade students in hands-on, interactive computer coding activities. Called the High School Coding Camp, the experience took place at Lorain County Community College, near the company’s headquarters in Elyria, Ohio, the company says.
Along with local giving, Bendix contributed to two Knorr-Bremse Global Care projects in 2016. In collaboration with Casas por Cristo, Bendix says volunteers began constructing four safe and secure homes in Acuña, where the company has operated a manufacturing facility since 1988. The effort is part of a project involving complete construction of houses for local families who lost their homes during a devastating tornado on May 25, 2015. Helping to construct four of the 20 homes under the project, Bendix employees will complete their final build next month, the company says.
On the horizon for 2017, Global Care will support the construction of an industrial lab to enhance the facilities, infrastructure, and curriculum of a local technical vocational school, Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Campeche (CECyTEC).
“We are grateful to be a part of the Knorr-Bremse Group and Knorr-Bremse Global Care,” Gutierrez says. “Taking part in Global Care projects is among the most rewarding things we can do as Bendix employees.”
