Gates Steps Up in Support of Denver Pride Month
More than $5,400 raised for The Center on Colfax to ensure the voices of Colorado's LGBTQ+ community continue to be heard
DENVER, June 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Gates (NYSE: GTES), a leading global provider of application-specific fluid power and power transmission solutions, showed the local LGBTQ+ community its support during Pride Month in a big way. In a time when many companies change the colors of their logos, Gates took it even further by actively engaging employees, and the local community, in conversation and activism through its participation and sponsorship of Denver Pride activities. This participation is part of the company's global diversity and inclusion initiative focused on fostering an inclusive workplace that recognizes and celebrates our differences.
One way in which Gates helped to create awareness and support this cause was the company's all-out participation, and significant sponsorship, of the Denver Pride 5K earlier this month. The WE ARE GATES team raised more than $5,400 for race organizer, The Center on Colfax, donating more money than any other corporate team. In fact, the donation was the largest amount of money raised for the organization altogether. Gates also provided a Gates Carbon Drive belted-bicycle to the race winner, a prize worth more than $1,100, bringing the total Gates commitment to $6,500.
Gates also celebrated Pride Month with a number of internal events, including a presentation from The Center on Colfax, and worked in conjunction with Hines to wrap the windows of its world headquarters in a rainbow of colors to further show support for the cause.
"At Gates, we have a tradition of diversity and inclusion that runs through our veins," said Jamey Seely, executive vice president and general counsel, Gates. "Our Pride celebrations helped spur employee support and participation in the race, and I am proud that our team was able to make such a major contribution to The Center on Colfax. Through Gates' diversity and inclusion initiative, I look forward to addressing these types of important issues both internally and externally in the future."
"We are very grateful to Gates for their enthusiastic and extraordinary support of the Pride 5K. Thanks to our partnership with Gates, The Center on Colfax will be able to continue serving the LGBTQ+ community of Colorado, including serving youth, older adults and the transgender community," said Rex Fuller, vice president of communications and corporate giving at The Center.
The vision of Gates' diversity and inclusion initiative is to drive an inclusive workforce environment where success is defined by its commitment to valuing all elements of diversity throughout a global organization; with employees, business partners, and communities.
About Gates
Gates is a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions. Gates offers a broad portfolio of products to diverse replacement channel customers and to original equipment ("first-fit") manufacturers as specified components. Gates participates in many sectors of the industrial and consumer markets. Gates products play essential roles in a diverse range of applications across a wide variety of end markets ranging from harsh and hazardous industries such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy, to everyday consumer applications such as printers, power washers, automatic doors and vacuum cleaners, and virtually every form of transportation. Gates products are sold in 128 countries across four commercial regions: the Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Greater China; and East Asia and India. More about Gates can be found at www.gates.com.
About The Center on Colfax
Denver PrideFest is the largest fundraiser for The Center on Colfax, which opened in 1976 and is now the largest LGBTQ community center in the Rocky Mountain region, giving voice to Colorado's LGBTQ community and playing a pivotal role in statewide initiatives to reduce harassment and discrimination. Today the Center is focused on fulfilling its mission – to engage, empower, enrich and advance the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community of Colorado – by ensuring that every member of the LGBTQ community has access to the programs and resources they need to live happy, healthy, and productive lives. The Center currently operates on an annual budget of $2.3 million, employs 20 staff members and utilizes more than 500 community volunteers to serve more than 57,000 people each year. www.lgbtqcolorado.org
SOURCE Gates
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