AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – More than 1.1 million meals were donated to local food banks across North America in September as part of Faurecia North America’s corporate-giving initiative, called "Faurecia Unites with Employees for Local Service" or "FUELS." Faurecia and its employees have provided more than 2.4 million meals since the program began in 2010.
Throughout September, which is Hunger Action Month, more than 20,000 Faurecia employees from its 47 locations in North America used a variety of creative methods to gather donations, including dunk tanks, chili cook-offs, bake sales, car washes and raffles to help hungry families.
Beyond food and dollar donations, Faurecia employees spent more than 1,300 hours volunteering with local partner food banks, lending their hands to everything from packaging rice and potatoes to packing boxes and serving meals. Employees were encouraged to contribute cash donations in addition to non-perishable food items. A $1 donation can provide three meals for hungry families. Cash donations are used to secure fresh food from local farmers to ensure access to nutritious, high-quality produce, often yielding more than 10 pounds of food per dollar donated.
“The donations raised through FUELS go a long way toward supporting local families throughout the fall and winter months and into the holiday season,” said W. DeWayne Wells, president of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan. “One in six people in the United States is facing hunger, and the impact from this year’s donations has been remarkable. We’ll be able to fill pantry shelves and provide thousands of additional meals thanks to the help from Faurecia.”
The top two collecting sites for 2013 were the Masonic (Fraser, Mich.) and the Puebla (Mexico) Atrium locations, which exceeded their collection goals by 6,894 percent and 4,001 percent, respectively. The two sites combined collected nearly 90,000 meals. Detroit’s Gleaners Community Food Bank and Fundación Juconi will each receive $5,000 from Faurecia on behalf of the winning teams.
The overall top collecting sites in the U.S. and the food banks they supported are:
– Fraser (Masonic), Mich., (Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan)
– Fraser, Mich., (Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan)
– Auburn Hills, Mich., Technical Center (Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan)
– Belvidere, Ill., (Belvidere – Boone County Food Pantry)
“Giving back to the communities we call home is a priority for our company,” said Michael Heneka, president of Faurecia North America. “We are extremely proud of how the FUELS program has grown over the past four years. Faurecia employees go above and beyond to make a meaningful impact in the local communities outside our office and plant doors.”
In addition to the annual FUELS initiative, Faurecia participates in a variety of ongoing service-oriented and charitable causes through its business groups and individual sites, including those associated with providing food, housing and education as well as opportunities for employee volunteerism.
