Category: People

SAF-HOLLAND supports the Wyakin Foundation

SAF-HOLLAND has announced its support of the Wyakin Foundation with a contribution in the amount of $74,079. This significant contribution was generated through a special sales promotion for its Gold Line Quality Parts with HDA Truck Pride members.

According the United States Census Bureau, there are nearly 22 million veterans living in the United States. Many times, when veterans return home they often have a hard time integrating back in to society and finding where they fit in.

The Wyakin Foundation’s mission is to serve as a conduit, connecting wounded and injured veterans to successful and fulfilling civilian futures through education, development and guidance. Wyakin helps men and women who have served us, provide expert professional and leadership development, strategic network support, academic and career planning, and project management experiences.

According to Carl Mesker, SAF-HOLLAND vice president of Aftermarket, “The Wyakin Foundation is an outstanding organization where a large percentage of every dollar counts toward helping Veterans transition into our industry. We need more great people in the Heavy Duty industry and the Wyakin Foundation can be a resource for every supplier in this industry.”

With the SAF-HOLLAND donation, the Wyakin foundation can help change the lives of many veterans

Left to right: Detlef Borghardt – CEO, Carl Mesker – Vice President Aftermarket, and Brent Taylor – Executive Director of the Wyakin Foundation.

HOLLAND COMMUNITY: Replace and Update Holland Public Schools Playground Basketball Courts

With budget cuts and a long list of high priority items, many schools have to make tough decisions on where to spend their money. Unfortunately the majority of the time school playgrounds are often neglected when it comes to much needed repairs and updates. This is why SAF-HOLLAND has partnered with Holland Public Schools, located near our Holland facility, to provide much needed improvements to the playground’s basketball courts.

At Holland Heights School, construction began around mid-late summer, with the removal of four of the six remaining basketball hoop supports and backboards that were all in various degrees of degeneration. Most of the hoops were not secure, while a few of the hoops were missing nets. In addition there was only a faint trace of the original court lines. With SAF-HOLLAND’s donation, Holland Heights was able to add six brand new basketball hoops, along with repainting the lines that made up the on the courts.

Holland Heights’ playground is not only used by the school, but is open to the public as well. SAF-HOLLAND’s contribution to update the playground’s basketball courts helped improve the play time of the kids in school, and also impacted the lives of those in the community who use the playground as well.

Holland Heights Principal Kevin Derr (left), along with CSR Members Jamie Noviss and Danielle Venard.

The Boys & Girls Club – BE GREAT: Graduate Program

Each year, in the United States, 1.2 million students drop out of high school. That’s one student every 26 seconds, or 3,288 students a day. By the end of third grade, children are placed into achievement trajectories that they follow for the rest of their school years. School and parenting play a major factor to a children’s success, but the third crucial factor is a community based organization that can serve as partners in providing resources for youth and families. That is why the SAF-HOLLAND Corporate Social Responsibility team partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of the Muskegon Lakeshore’s BE GREAY: Graduate program.

BE GREAT: Graduate is a very successful dropout prevention program that was implemented by the Boys & Girls Club of the Muskegon Lakeshore. The program uses mentors to observe warning signs of withdrawal from school and work to create a plan to address roadblocks and celebrate successes. BE GREAT: Graduate helps steer youth towards academic success, by pairing them with dedicated mentors. Mentors also play a large role in the home and with school collaborations that play a crucial part of academic achievement.

WARRENTON – Summer Reading Program

When children leave school for summer break, there is a tendency for some of the knowledge that they have learned at school to be left behind. This is why SAF-HOLLAND has partnered with the Warren County RIII School District near our Warrenton facility, by providing help to pack more than 1,600 special cloth book bags with reading and work books for kids to take home over the summer.

The school district has handed out these book bags to kindergarten and first-grade students to encourage them to keep up their reading skills over the summer. The book bags were donated by SAF-HOLLAND and members of the Corporate Social Responsibility Team in Warrenton gathered at the central office to help fill the book bags. Each bag contains one workbook, flash cards, and a reading list. Students who complete their reading list will be rewarded with a picnic at Binkley Woods and Spector Lake Park. Those students who are able to show they’ve studied the flash cards will be rewarded with a coupon to McDonald’s.

Many of the books were purchased through donations by SAF-HOLLAND, who has also made a monetary donation towards the district’s Care to Learn Program, as well as a larger donation towards updating technology for the local schools.

CINCINNATI – Freestore Foodbank

SAF-HOLLAND has donated $12,000, to the Freestore Foodbank’s Power Pack weekend feeding program. This program allows local children in need of food assistance to not worry where their next meal might come from. This supports children’s health and gives them the ability to reach their full potential. The support of SAF-HOLLAND will help provide students at Bond Hill and Roselawn Condon elementary schools with nutritious food over weekends so they can return to school on Monday ready to learn.

Michelle Brietburg, SAF-HOLLAND Cincinnati facility representative presents the contribution check for $12,000 to Kurt Reiber, President and CEO of the Cincinnati Freestore Foodback organization

One team – one goal

After long and intensive preparation, the employees from SAF-HOLLAND lined up at the starting line for the HVB City Run in Aschaffenburg. ‘The team really gave it their all’, said Andreas Hasenstab, Head of Product Data Management at SAF-HOLLAND and at the same time coach and motivator of the troupe. The conditions for a perfect race could not have been better: splendid weather and a great atmosphere! The spectators at roadside cheered the runners on, providing the necessary motivation. ‘It was a great day, and next year I’ll definitely be back’, said Dr. Matthias Heiden, CFO at SAF-HOLLAND. Despite the high level of participation, the team hopes to have even more runners and spectators next year.

At this point, we want to thank Andreas Hasenstab for his assistance. It was he who trained the runners every week, repeatedly motivating them; so he is responsible for the good performance of the team.

More fitness for safer driving

Exhausted? Unfocused?
Anyone not in the best physical condition will quickly become drowsy and feel weak. Particularly on the road, fatigue can be fatal.

Truck drivers’ ability to concentrate is particularly important to us, which is why we support the foundation for professional truck drivers – Truckerslife Foundation – with modern outdoor fitness facilities sponsored by SAF-HOLLAND Poland. Drivers can use them to strengthen their bodies on-site.

It’s a scientifically proven fact: regular exercise strengthens the immune system and promotes feelings of wellness at the same time. The rate of cardiovascular disease drops with just an hour of exercise a day – and even bad blood values are noticeably improved. At the same time, controlled muscle-building counteracts the kind of back and neck pain often caused by an unhealthy posture in the driver’s cab. But the physical aspects are not the only ones to benefit from exercise. Exercise is also an ideal release valve to alleviate pent-up stress, promote physical coordination and stimulate the mind. All it takes is an all-out, 20-minute work-out, and you’ll be feeling better already.

More information about the Truckerslife Foundation

Round down for a good cause

No one wants to be in hospital, and particularly for children and their parents, the time spent there is especially difficult. Together with the Association of Friends [Förderkreis] of the Aschaffenburg Children’s Clinic, SAF-HOLLAND seeks to make hospitalisation as pleasant as possible for the little patients and their parents.

How does this work? It can be accomplished with as little as a few cents each month. Because with this long-term fund-raising campaign, the small change after the decimal point in SAF-HOLLAND employees’ net monthly salaries adds up. This way, each month every employee can donate up to 99 cents to a good cause. And the best part: the money is forwarded, utterly unbureaucratically, to its intended destination: to sick children and their parents. ‘The direct solidarity shown by SAF-HOLLAND colleagues was tremendous’, says Katja Maier, Human Resources Manager at SAF-HOLLAND. ‘Already in the first month, many of our colleagues agreed to participate in the campaign – and the upward trend continues.’

Showing responsibility

‘We provide assistance right where it’s needed’, Maik Bartelt says. Since 2005, the Furaha Phönix Kinderhaus association has been actively involved in helping street children, AIDS orphans and children with no parents in Mombasa, Kenya. The aim is to offer these children a brighter future. The association’s own children’s home was established with this in mind in 2010 and currently houses 38 boys and young men between the ages of 2 and 18. The Furaha Phönix children’s home provides schooling linked to targeted vocational training. This is how the association offers the Furaha orphans a genuine chance to take their future lives into their own hands, have a family and be able to provide for them independently.

Alongside the personal dedication of Maik Bartelt, we – his colleagues here at SAF-HOLLAND – also lend a hand with our regular donations. The money goes directly towards the purchase of food and clothing, and towards education and accommodations for the orphans. The volunteer members of the association are not paid for their work and pay all their expenses themselves. Our aim: the money donated should go directly to where it is needed – to the children!

We are helping the poorest of the poor; please join us!

We very much look forward to your donation. Because every euro counts.
FUHARA PHÖNIX Kinderhaus
IBAN: DE83 2007 0024 0036 3606 00
BIC: DEUTDEDBHAM
For more information, visit: www.phoenix-kinderhaus.de

Do you have questions? We would be pleased to hear from you: think_ahead@safholland.de

The Johanniter Christmas Trucker Campaign

For a good cause: The colleagues at SAF-HOLLAND helped fill packages with urgently needed basic foodstuffs, hygiene products and small toys for children. Loaded with plenty of Christmas gifts and a donation from SAF-HOLLAND, the Christmas Truck sets out for Eastern Europe in December.

Here, Johanniter emissaries visit children, families and older people living in poverty as well as people with disabilities. We are delighted that our participation in this campaign can make eyes beam with joy while at the same time making an important contribution on behalf of our society.