Industry gives generously all year 'round

You expect to hear about charitable donations around the holidays, but in the material handling and logistics industry, generosity knows no season. Here are just a few examples of the sizable donations industry players have made recently:

• Camoplast Solideal, a manufacturer of tires, wheels, and other components for the material handling industry, will donate 50 percent of the profits from the sale of limited edition "Drive for the Cure" tires during April to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Net work. The high-performance poly tires come in the signature purple color of the campaign against gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancer. To support the fundraising campaign, the company developed merchandising and a series of postcards featuring testimonials from cancer survivors in the material handling industry.
• NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc., parent of Hyster and Yale brand lift trucks, presented a check for $20,200 to United Way of Pitt County (N.C.) during an East Carolina University basketball game. NMHG employees raised the money by donating $100 for each three-point shot made during this year's basketball season. NMHG has donated more than $3.4 million to the United Way of Pitt County since 1999.
• To celebrate its achievement of $10 billion in total revenues in 2011, multimodal logistics services provider C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. designated an additional $100,000 for donations to 10 charitable organizations through its C.H. Robinson Foundation. The organizations were selected based on the level of current employee involvement with each organization. Since 2005, the foundation and its parent company have given more than $11 million to charity.
• Over the past 10 years, Nissan Forklift Corp. has donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the United Way of Greater McHenry County (Ill.). At the end of 2011, the total stood at more than $242,000. Employees have participated in a variety of fundraising events, including silent auctions, chili cook-offs, and executive chair races.