Faurecia North America Employees Donate 307,000 Pounds of Food to Local Food Banks Through 2011 FUELS Program

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 300,000 pounds of non-perishable food was donated to local food banks across North America in September as part of Faurecia North America's (http://www.faurecia.com) corporate giving initiative, FUELS – Faurecia Unites with Employees for Local Service. Faurecia's total contributions will provide more than 298,000 meals* to families in need. In addition, Faurecia is donating $24,000 to partner food banks in recognition of its employees' efforts to feed the hungry.

This year, Faurecia employees upped the ante through creative efforts to get donations, like renting dunk tanks, holding bake sales, raffles, bottle drives and golf outings, and even working with their local farmers to get thousands of pounds of potatoes and carrots.

In addition to food donations, Faurecia employees spent more than 300 hours volunteering with their partner food banks, lending their hands to everything from picking vegetables to packing boxes and staffing local community festivals. Service projects will continue into the fall as Faurecia and its employees work together to make a difference in communities the company calls home.

Launched in 2010, FUELS combines the charitable efforts of more than 10,000 Faurecia employees from the company's 39 locations throughout North America to make an impact in the neighborhoods and communities where they are located. In total since the program's inaugural challenge in 2010, employees have donated more than 455,000 pounds of non-perishable food to food banks across the country.

"We are extremely proud of the successful FUELS program over the past two years," said Michael Heneka, president of Faurecia North America. "Once again, our employees went above and beyond to benefit their local food banks and the people that live in their neighborhoods and communities. It is great to see the impact we can have when we unite for a common cause."

Faurecia challenged its employees to compete in collecting the most pounds of food per person per site during the month of September. The company pledged to contribute $500 to each local food bank that the sites partnered with if their employees met their respective collection goal. Faurecia further pledged $5,000 on behalf of one site in the U.S./Canada and one site in Mexico that collected the most pounds of food per person. Overall, 77 percent of Faurecia's participating sites exceeded their collection goal.

The top two collecting sites were the Northwood, Ohio, and the Queretaro, Mexico, plants, which achieved their collection goals by 2,437 percent and 1,086 percent, respectively. The two sites combined collected 29,218 pounds of food. The Cherry Street Mission and Alimentos para la Vida IAP food banks will each receive $5,000 from Faurecia on behalf of the winning teams. This is the second consecutive year that the Northwood plant has been the top collecting site.

"The team at Northwood once again went above and beyond through their FUELS program," said Dan Rogers, president and CEO of Cherry Street Mission Ministries. "The generosity of donated food, and their donation of time in volunteering is a great example of the giving community we live and serve in. Their contributions will help provide more than 700 meals a day to those in need in our community.  We look forward to continuing our partnership throughout the year."

The overall top collecting sites in the U.S. and the food banks they supported are:

• Northwood, Ohio (Cheery Street Mission Ministries)
• Fraser, Mich. (Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan)
• Lansing, Mich. (Mid-Michigan Food Bank)

"Faurecia has always been committed to giving back to the community," Heneka said. "Think about the impact it would make if we all joined together and took small steps to help our local food banks."

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 education, research, volunteerism and other activities.

For more information on FUELS including photos, video, anecdotes and other details about each Faurecia site's contributions, connect with Faurecia on:

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FaureciaFUELS
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FaureciaFUELS
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/FaureciaFUELS

To view Faurecia's social media press release, featuring pictures and videos from the FUELS campaign, visit: http://pitch.pe/178435.

*Source: USDA

About Faurecia North America

Faurecia North America had sales of $3.4 billion in 2010. The Group has 33 production sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico and employs more than 10,000 people in the region. It has five technical and development centers, situated in Auburn Hills (2), Holland and Troy, Mich., and in Columbus, Ind., as well as a customer center in Toledo, Ohio.

For the latest updates on Faurecia activities throughout North America, connect with the company at http://www.facebook.com/faureciaNA and http://www.twitter.com/faurecia_NA.

About Faurecia

Faurecia is the world's sixth-largest automotive supplier with four key Business Groups: Automotive Seating, Emissions Control Technologies, Interior Systems and Automotive Exteriors. In 2010, the Group posted total sales of $18.22 billion. The company is headquartered in Nanterre, France, with its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. It employs 75,000 people in 33 countries at 238 sites and 38 R&D centers. Faurecia is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris stock exchange. For more information, visit: www.faurecia.com.

SOURCE Faurecia North America