Pandemic Did Not Deter Bendix’s Community Involvement

Sign up for our weekly email to stay on top of the latest news and insights!

Source: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems announcement

ELYRIA, Ohio – During a pandemic year, Bendix and its employees continued community involvement activities through 2020, emphasizing both corporate giving and employee volunteering activities.

Corporate and employee donations for the year totaled more than $850,000, including $427,000 in grants awarded by Knorr-Bremse Global Care, and Knorr-Bremse Global Care North America Inc. Another $430,000 in funding came from Bendix and Bendix employees to support numerous nonprofit organizations and community initiatives across North America, in the form of grants, donations, and sponsorships.

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems is the North American leader in the development and manufacture of active safety, air management, and braking solutions for commercial vehicles. Bendix’s parent company, the Munich, Germany-based Knorr-Bremse, is the global leader for braking systems and a leading supplier of other safety-critical rail and commercial vehicle systems.

“2020 may have brought new challenges when it came to community service efforts, but challenging times bring out the best in people, and that was certainly evident across the Bendix organization,” said Maria Gutierrez, Bendix director of corporate responsibility and sustainability. “Our in-person volunteering hours were understandably down in 2020, as most of those events and opportunities were canceled to protect the health and safety of everyone involved. But we maintained our commitment to supporting our communities despite the pandemic and its economic impacts.”

Gutierrez continued, “In many instances where we had previously provided volunteers, but could not in 2020, we were still able to offer sponsorships and donations in lieu of our employees’ time. In fact, throughout the year we actually increased our core giving to help support those in need. We also evolved our programs to offer more virtual opportunities for employees to get engaged from the comfort of their homes and still positively impact our communities.”

Sign up for our weekly email to stay on top of the latest news and insights!

Of the $430,000 in Bendix contributions, $55,000 was generated through employee initiatives and fundraising campaigns, while close to $138,000 represented Bendix grants from the company’s Get Involved! Program, which was maintained in spite of the impact of COVID-19. Additionally, some corporate grants were redirected to support COVID-19 emergency relief efforts in local Bendix communities. This support included donations to local food banks, primarily, and organizations working to close the digital divide related to the shift to online schooling.

To view the entire announcement, click HERE.

The Brake Report
The Brake Report

The BRAKE Report is an online media platform dedicated to the automotive and commercial vehicle brake segments. Our mission is to provide the global brake community with the latest news & headlines from around the industry.