In coordination with Sassoon General Hospital, on November 14, Lear India organized a blood donation campaign at Bhosari in Pune, India. Team members from the India Engineering Center, regional headquarters and Chakan all volunteered to participate.

After a brief medical checkup, participants donated more than 150 units of blood for those in need. First-time volunteers, as well as those who have participated in past company-supported efforts, all enjoyed the experience and shared in the spirit of selfless service.

Donating blood is one of the simplest ways to contribute to the health of others. In the past, India has registered severe shortfalls in the amount of blood units required, thus impacting timely and critical medical attention to many patients.

In recognition of their outstanding contributions to blood donations, Lear India received a Certificate of Merit from the local medical college and hospital. The donors each received an individual certificate of recognition and also a card entitling them to one free unit of blood from the governmental blood bank over the next year, should they experience a need themselves.

Lear India’s leadership team thanked the donors for their participation, noting that medical experts say one unit of donated blood can save up to three lives.

“Once again we’ve shown that Lear always contributes towards society and in this effort is helping to save lives,” explained Dhaamodharan Perumalsamy, VP & Managing Director – India. “We are happy to conduct such a drive in our company and we are quite impressed by the response of the employees. We wish to assist many such camps in other Lear India locations.  There is no substitute for human blood. Blood cannot be manufactured – it can only come from generous donors. Blood donation is the easiest and the most powerful way to make an impact.”

On October 26, Lear representatives teamed up with global law firm Mayer Brown to participate in the Frankfurt Marathon. With approximately 15,000 participants, the BMW-sponsored marathon is one of the largest in all of Europe.

The runners raised funds for a local Frankfurt charity that supports children from disadvantaged backgrounds who would otherwise have limited access to better education.

“The two combined Mayer Brown/Lear teams finished in 4:03:05 hours and 4:03:06 hours, respectively,” noted Martin Henningsen, VP Associate General Counsel. “However, much more importantly than any finishing time was the joint effort (and fun) to accomplish something together and to help people in need. We agreed unanimously to participate again next year and hope to build even more relay teams.”

Earlier in the month, 33 Lear employees from Wackersdorf and Oberding participated in the Munich Marathon, whose attendance fees benefit various local charities. The race drew a crowd of 100,000 to cheer on the more than 21,000 runners from 101 nations who all joined together to race through the city streets.

Christian Wiens was the only Lear employee to run the full marathon distance of 42 km, with a time of 3:50 hours. The top runner of the six Lear employees who ran the half-marathon (21 km) was Kristof Baltay (1:30 hours), while Steffen Hammerby was the best of the seven 10 km runners, achieving a time of 40 minutes. Twelve Lear employees ran the marathon in teams consisting of four persons each, with Tariq Parvaiz (6.8 km), Rolando Diaz (14.4 km) and Ibrahim Hamayel (21 km) achieving the fastest group time.

“Thanks to all who supported this event, especially to Christian Wiens and Ibrahim Hamayel and to all the other runners,” said Rebecca Igler, HR – Oberding. “We are looking forward to the next running events where we can combine pursuing health and helping the community in which we do business.”

Jim Casey, Plant Manager – Sunderland, explained: “We enjoy supporting the community and it is always good to be able to set a good example of giving back. We partnered with another local company to assist some local boys who needed to raise money for their Under-11 soccer team. Working together, we were very successful and I am proud to say that the boys came up with the idea to donate the excess funds to local cancer research.”

Lear Brazil’s São Paulo office recently delivered more than 180 books collected over two weeks in a campaign to support the Centro de Ensino Integrado (CEI) Paulo and Admar. Located in the southern area of São Paulo, CEI serves 130 underprivileged children, ages one to four, who live in the surrounding community.

The effort began with the office’s desire to raise awareness and partner with the United Way of Brazil in the “I Make a Child Happy” campaign. Lear team members spent the day teaching and doing fun activities with the children.

“For me it was very gratifying to see the children of CEI Paulo and Admar smile because of our visit,” said Deise Flores Justo, financial analyst. “Lear Brazil must be congratulated for the initiative. I’m sure the difference towards major changes begins in small gestures like this one.”

“We saw the reality of this community in need and then came back with an idea of ‘I want to do more’, either how to help the kids or in improving the infrastructure of the nursery for their welfare,” added Luciana Fugita, HR analyst. “I loved the experience of giving back.”

On February 19, Lear Vélizy team members Emmanuelle Bulot, Martin Deïssard and Emilie Bergot visited the adolescent ward of the Gustave Roussy Institute, one of the world’s leading cancer research hospitals and one of Europe’s largest oncology centers.

Isabel Hanot, VAT and Customs Director for Europe and Africa, lead the community service effort in cooperation with hospital staffer Mariano Capuano. A special Lear charity bowling event and raffle raised funds for gifts to be purchased for the teenagers being treated at the Institute. The Lear team purchased items such as watches, DVDs, comics and books to raise the spirits of the young patients.

“Our hospital specializes in rare cancer cases,” explained Capuano. “Most of our teens and young adults regularly come for heavy treatments. We try to recreate a family atmosphere and any help in improving their daily lives at the hospital is highly appreciated. This event shows how the hospital professionals and the Lear team can combine their efforts.”

José Barreira, a participant from the Lear team, said, “I enjoyed seeing all these Lear people gathered together for such a good reason.” This was “a nice moment, which was so moving and powerful,” added Larissa Geus, another Lear team member.

During the visit, the Lear team enjoyed an opportunity to speak with the teens and to personally present each of them with a watch of their preference.

“Through their courage, these teens taught us to have a sense of humor and wisdom, how to look ahead in life despite serious diseases and how to handle difficulties with optimism,” said Bulot. “This was a lesson to us all. It brought us great joy to be able to connect with them and to discuss things like our jobs and their hopes for their life in the future.”

With more than 120 team members, Lear Vélizy is a R&D center as well as a corporate and French administrative office located near Paris. Founded in 1926, the Gustave Roussy Institute is located in Villejuif, 4.5 miles south of Paris’ city center. Its mission is to take a wholly-integrated approach to the teaching, research and care of cancer.

Stay updated on company news and automotive industry trends by following Lear Corporation on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Lear Singapore continued a community service tradition, for the fourth consecutive year, by visiting the Singapore Adventist Home for Elders and sharing an afternoon with its senior residents. Lear’s CFO and Vice President of Finance for Asia, Dave Smidt, and his wife Deborah were also in attendance.

In addition to entertaining and spending time with the home’s residents, Lear sponsored and organized a special Yusheng dinner—a local custom during Chinese New Year, symbolizing the sharing of joy and good luck.

To add to the festivities, Dave dressed as the traditional God of Fortune, much to the appreciation of the elders. Deborah and Lim Kwang Leong, Senior I.T. Manager, served as masters of ceremonies, guiding everyone in bingo games and singing.

“We spent a wonderful afternoon at the elders’ home, and some of them made a special point to come up to us to shake hands and thank us for the visit,” said Eva Zhu, Assistance Finance Controller of Asia. “One lady told me that she was especially looking forward to our visit, and the bingo game and winning the prize was the highlight of her day. ‘However, the God of Fortune looks a bit different from last year,’ she mentioned with a smile.”

Adventist Home Manager Maryanne Tan said, “We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the management and staff of Lear Corporation, for giving our elderly a remarkable afternoon. We thank you for the contributions and wish the organization more success to come.”

“It was great to participate in the event this year, after hearing about it last year,” Dave said. “It was very fulfilling to see the happiness this event brings to the elders but also to the faces of our Lear team. The Lear team did a great job planning and organizing everything.” Dave also expressed special thanks to Wendy Khoo for helping to coordinate the event, shop for gifts and order dinner, and to Chen Yu for being the team’s photographer.

Stay updated on company news and automotive industry trends by following Lear Corporation on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Lear Sunderland recently launched a new UK government-funded, two-week training program with local partners Pinpoint Training and Recruitment. The initiative aims to support the local community by providing employability and manufacturing training to help create sustainable jobs.

The Lear Sunderland Employability Academy offers specific approaches to unemployed residents to help get them back into the workforce and introduce them to potential careers in manufacturing. Local job centers, work programs, training providers and Pinpoint’s own internal recruitment teams send referrals to the Academy.

Lear Sunderland developed the Academy with the goal that it can provide production operators for the foam facility moving forward; keeping in mind the plant’s current expansion plans.

“Lear benefits by gaining high caliber operators who’ve had some formal training on site, understand the business and process and have been given the opportunity to prove their suitability,” said Alison Burgin, Senior HR Officer. “The Academy will be ongoing to support our recruitment needs now and in the future.”

The program includes site tours and training on employability skills, resume (CV) writing, interview skills, teamwork, equality and diversity, job requirements and promoting Lear as an Employer of Choice. Those who continue to the second week of the Academy attend presentations by Lear departmental personnel regarding manufacturing process and quality issues. Attendees then spend several days on the production line to establish mutual suitability.

Post-Academy, trainees provided Lear with feedback. Many Academy attendees enjoyed learning more about Lear and appreciated the advice about what employers look for in prospective team members. Others gained a good understanding of interview skills and the proper mental approaches to seeking employment.

Last September, Gideon Jewel (Pres. – Seating, Europe & Africa) and Sunderland City Council leader Paul Watson officially announced the expansion of the foam plant, with plans to create more than 100 jobs and extend the facility by 3,500 square meters to double the plant’s production capacity.

Stay updated on company news and automotive industry trends by following Lear Corporation on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Lear wiring engineering and electrical sales team members in Southfield continued their ongoing support of Gleaners Community Food Bank by folding 4,000 food drive paper bags. Their work was in preparation for the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in the country.

Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns collect non-perishable food from their postal customers. In the food drive’s 20+ year history, this campaign has delivered more than one billion pounds of food.

On May 9, Metro Detroit area residents will join with the local United States Postal Service to collect food for the drive. The USPS will then deliver the donations to Gleaners and other community organizations fighting hunger. Last year, Gleaners received more than a million pounds of food from the drive.

Earlier in January, Frank Orsini, SVP and President – Electrical, led the sales and program management volunteers in donating their time, extra food and funds at Gleaners’ headquarters in Detroit.

Additionally, the electrical sales team has planned an upcoming mid-summer day to put in some hard work in harvesting strawberries, weeding and related labor to help Gleaners prepare for another successful fall harvest.

“We love giving back to the community and supporting a great cause like Gleaners,” said Andrica Nuechterlein, VP – Sales, Electrical. “By partnering with other areas such as Program Management and Engineering we make an even bigger impact and it is also a great opportunity for team building.”

Gleaners’ Volunteer Coordinator Karen Rogensues expressed her appreciation for the Lear team, saying, “Thank you so much for organizing such a wonderful group of volunteers from Lear. We are so grateful for the hard work provided by groups like yours.”

With distribution centers in the four counties that make up the Metropolitan Detroit area, Gleaners distributes more than 45 million pounds of food annually to those in need in southeastern Michigan. About 40% of the recipients are children. Area Lear team members have long supported Gleaners, whose mission is to promote self-sufficiency through education and access as well as fighting hunger.

To learn more about the NALC Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, please visit www.gcfb.org.

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It all started with a phone call from the local chapter of the non-profit organization Caritas. Our team in Valls, Spain learned that the charity had run out of some basic food items such as milk, cooking oil and cereals, as well as personal hygiene products like shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste.

Globally, Caritas is dedicated to helping families and individuals in need by providing food, mentoring and economic help to pay for rent and basic needs. In this case, Caritas Spain had an urgent need to care for approximately 250 families in the local area.

The Lear Valls leadership team immediately launched an awareness campaign through flyers, posters and computer screens across their whole campus. A specially designed recycled bag with the tagline “Kilos de Solidaridad” (Kilos of Solidarity) was provided to each team member, along with additional tips to help engage as many Lear employees as possible.

A member from the senior management team sponsors every community service initiative in Valls. For Caritas’ special request, Jesús Vidal (VP – Electronics Ops.) volunteered to lead the effort, enlisting other volunteers from the operations area, including Joan Jordá (Plant Mgr.) and his entire management team from the Valls plant. Volunteers arrived on May 27 at 5 am to set up the collection points, community service-themed flags and product-designated boxes to distribute the donations.

“I was pleased to see the massive participation,” said Jesús. “Donations remained strong the whole day with our volunteers setting up different collection times to take into account all the working shifts. In addition to collecting bags and bags full of products, we all noticed everyone’s big smiles and eagerness to contribute.”

The Caritas regional director and their local representatives expressed how impressed they were by the campaign and the entire organization and logistics.

The donation drive finished the next day at 6 am, when team members finished the third shift. The end result was almost 8,500 kg (18,500 lbs) of food and hygiene products. As a company, Lear donated an additional 1,263 kilos (2,784 lbs) of sugar and flour—one kilo (2.2 lbs) for each of the 1,263 employees in Valls.

In addition to Jesús sending a thank you message to all Valls team members, Mariano de Torres (VP – Electrical) added his own thanks to those who donated, as well as to the volunteer team and the support from suppliers and partners, including the canteen provider, cleaning services and the logistics carrier who transported the donations.

Mariano declared: “This fantastic and prompt effort shows once again that Lear supports the community where we do business and that the Lear team responds generously when urgent help is requested for people in need.”

Stay updated on company news and automotive industry trends by following Lear Corporation on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

On May 12, Lear’s Naco Plant in Honduras was honored with a visit from the country’s President, Mr. Juan Orlando Hernandez. The President was greeted by Jessica Galdamez (Plant Mgr.) and the local team, as well as Alfonso Delgadillo (VP – Electrical Ops., Americas); Gabriel Lujan (VP – HR, Lear Mexico); Lorena Loya (HR Dir.); and Rafael Coello (Electrical Ops. Dir, Central & South America).

“It was an honor to receive the visit from our country’s president,” said Jessica. “It’s important to take this opportunity to thank all team members over the years and highlight our emphasis on being the best representatives of the Lear spirit around the world.”

Lear Naco has created more than 2,000 new jobs in the last year under the Honduran government-led program “Con Chamba Vivis Mejor” (“You will live better with a job”). President Hernandez explained to the Lear executives that he wants to support the investment in Honduras and generate more job opportunities for Honduran people. This visit also helped the President to become better acquainted with Lear operations at the plant—the largest Lear wiring operation in the Americas, with more than 6,000 team members.

In addition to continuing to assist new jobs creation with the program, President Hernandez also talked with Lear employees about other social programs that will benefit them, such as access to affordable home credits with the lowest interest rate.

In a special meeting with the President, the Lear management team shared Lear’s global profile and how Lear has been positively impacting the community for 21 years, with the expectation of continuing to work together for everyone’s benefit. Additionally, Mr. Hernandez offered to improve the customs system in the maritime ports in order to expedite the materials imported to the country—one of the biggest opportunities identified by Honduran operations.

At the end of the event, employee representative Armin Canales offered a present to Mr. Hernandez: a wire harness made by Lear Naco employees as a memento of his visit, and Naco’s contribution to the local economy and the global automotive industry.

“Lear has made a commitment to continue working together as much as possible with the government to promote more job opportunities for the Honduran people,” said Gabriel. “We would like to thank everyone at the Naco plant for the warm welcome extended to our important guest and we look forward to even more progress in the region.”

Stay updated on company news and automotive industry trends by following Lear Corporation on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Family and friends joined together to cheer on Lear Valls team members for the second annual “Hol.la Genís” race on September 20. Founded by Lear’s own Pilar Giner, Hol.la Genís is an organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for children’s cancer research and supporting those families affected by a childhood illness.

Pilar named the organization after her son Genís, who was diagnosed with cancer at age three. Genís bravely conquered the disease, and five years later he’s happily leading a healthy and normal life. Inspired by her son’s recovery, Pilar’s work and the annual race represent her personal dedication to the cause.

This year, the run attracted over 900 participants, more than 300 of which were Lear employees, with additional team members running in solidarity around the world—a significant increase over last year’s 275 participants. Relatives and friends (and even some pets), all joined in for a 5k run/walk or 10k walk.

The event was made even more special with the participation of Lear’s global family. Although they couldn’t participate in person, employees who wanted to take part were able to contribute in other ways. For example, a group from Lear Schwaig ran the “Erdinger Stadtlauf” race in Germany, and their team wore Hol.la Genís shirts.

“It is humbling to see how many Lear team members rose to the occasion to support another team member for a great cause,” said Mariano de Torres (VP – Electrical, Europe & Africa).

In the spirit of our commitment to the communities where we do business, Lear generously contributed a donation match for all company team member registration fees. All funds will go to benefit Fundació de l’Hospital Sant Joan de Deu (Foundation of Saint John of God Hospital), the Ronald McDonald Foundation Home and the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Spain.

Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona is a teaching hospital associated with the University of Barcelona (Universitat de Barcelona) specializing in the fields of pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics. Ronald McDonald House Charities is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. With operations in more than 40 countries, the Make-A-Wish Foundation arranges experiences (described as “wishes”) to children with life-threatening medical conditions.

To learn more about Hol.la Genis, please visit their page on Facebook.