On a sunny February afternoon, nearly 150 employees of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems gathered almost one thousand miles away from the company’s home community and assembled the walls of a house for a local family. The February 12 construction of the house, built in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and Help Build Hope, was a capstone event at the annual Bendix North America Sales Meeting in Destin, FL.
“We are humbled by the passion and enthusiasm our employees put into this project,” says Maria Gutierrez, Bendix Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability. “Bendix has an enduring commitment to building communities, but we are only able to fulfill that promise through the ongoing and active support we receive from our employees.”
After building the frame of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, Bendix volunteers wrote personal messages in permanent marker across the wood. The frame of the 1,260 sq. ft. structure was then disassembled and donated to Jamie Peoples, a single mother of three in Crestview, FL, as a Habitat for Humanity home.
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort hosted the Bendix meeting and Habitat for Humanity house-build. The resort also contributed $1,000 to a Bendix fund dedicated to purchasing a new roof for the finished home. “With help from our many partners throughout this initiative, we were able not only to give back, but also to meet inspiring people like Jamie, who benefit the most from projects like this,” Gutierrez says. “We look forward to furthering the Bendix mission and continuing to care for local communities.”
Bendix, the North American leader in the development and manufacture of leading-edge active safety and braking system technologies for commercial vehicles, will partner with Habitat for Humanity and Help Build Hope again in May to construct the walls of another home near the company’s headquarters in Elyria, OH. Both projects are part of Local Care within the Bendix Corporate Responsibility program.
Local Care fuels Bendix’s long-standing dedication to supporting communities and aims to grow active social involvement among employees through leadership and project management experience.
In addition to working with Habitat for Humanity and Help Build Hope, Bendix employees throughout North America participate in a wide range of community involvement programs, including annual United Way campaigns; hunger-relief efforts; Junior Achievement volunteering; and fundraising for the National Kidney Foundation, American Cancer Society, and ALS Association.
Habitat for Humanity builds decent and affordable houses for people in need with the help of hundreds of volunteers. Homes are sold with no profit made, and the homeowners’ no-interest mortgage payments are recycled into the “Fund for Humanity” to build additional homes.
Help Build Hope nurtures sustainable relationships with individuals and communities across America through the framing of new homes. The organization works with partners like Habitat for Humanity to enhance community impact and to create hands-on opportunities for all ages through home building. With help from volunteers, Help Build Hope has orchestrated as many as 33 home-builds in one day.
