AUBURN HILLS – Families across North America will receive more than 3.5 million meals from Faurecia employees supporting Hunger Action Month.

While Faurecia is known for its lightweight innovations in automotive systems, the company and its employees have proved to be heavyweights in their contributions toward relieving hunger in communities across North America.

Faurecia, the sixth-largest auto supplier in the North America region, worked with its employees in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. to gather more than 1,528,831 million pounds of food during the month-long Faurecia Unites with Employees for Local Service (FUELS) campaign. The food and monetary donations will allow 28 food banks, located in the communities where Faurecia operates, to offer more than 1.12 million meals to local families. Faurecia teams have provided more than 3.5 million meals during the five years since FUELS began.

Under the banner of “Every1Counts,” Faurecia’s corporate-giving initiative inspired more than 20,000 Faurecia employees in 47 locations to sponsor dunk tanks, bake sales, cook-offs, raffles, hot dog lunches and other events to raise funds and collect food donations during national Hunger Action Month in September.

Employees also gave more than 600 volunteer hours of their own time at partner food banks to pack foods in bulk, boxes and cans and to serve meals to families in their towns and cities.

Faurecia is donating $500 to each food bank connected with sites that met their collection goals. For the sites that gathered the most food per employee during each week of the campaign, Faurecia contributed $1,000 to their food bank partners. Those sites were:

Sterling Heights, Michigan (Merrill Road)

Fraser, Michigan

The Atrium in Puebla, Mexico

Hermosillo, Mexico

Queretaro, Mexico

This year, two sites in Michigan ? Sterling Heights and Fraser ? are sharing the title of collecting the most food per person throughout the campaign. Faurecia gave their local food bank an additional $5,000. In Mexico, the Queretaro Plant was named the winner and also earned $5,000 for their food bank. Combined, Sterling Heights, which exceeded its goal by 7,931 percent, Fraser, which exceeded its goal by 5,194 percent and Queretaro, which gathered 2,469 percent over its goal, generated enough food and funds for nearly 603,955 thousand meals, to be distributed by the Gleaners Food Bank of Southeast Michigan and Alimentos para la Vida IAP food banks.

“Over the five years of the FUELS program, our employees have collected donations that have translated into more than 3.5 million meals,” said Faurecia North America President Michael Heneka. “I am immensely proud of our associates and their resolute dedication to helping those who most need our help. But it is only a small dent in the crisis of hunger we face around the world. One in every seven Americans rely on food pantries and meal service programs to feed their families. Every one of us counts in this challenge, and every one of us at Faurecia understands the importance of this effort. FUELS will continue to ignite our giving spirit and unite us in our support of the communities where we work and live.”

Beyond FUELS, Faurecia participates in a number of ongoing service-oriented and charitable causes through its business groups and facilities, helping to provide food, housing and education as results of employee volunteerism and corporate giving.