At a September equipment auction held by SANY America, two specially wrapped SY215C excavators were sold with their combined sales helping to raise more than $55,000 for charity.
The eye-catching excavators -- one featuring an American flag wrap, the other an all-black model complete with chrome accents -- were exclusively wrapped for the 2020 CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show held in Las Vegas in March. The popularity of the machines gave SANY the idea to auction them off to dealers with the goal of raising money for two charities: Promise Place and the Travis Mills Foundation. As it turned out, both excavators were purchased by one of the company’s newest dealers, SANY New York.
The sale of the Black & Chrome Model raised $25,000 for Promise Place, a favorite charity among the company's employees. Based in Fayetteville, GA, near the SANY headquarters, Promise Place exists to prevent domestic violence. The organization focuses on awareness programs, educational training, and providing safe environments for the victims and their families by utilizing legal advocacy, emergency shelters and transitional housing.
On October 19, Vanessa Wilkins, executive director of Promise Place, and Nick Rider, Promise Place Board Chair, visited SANY’s facility in Peachtree City, GA, to accept the donation in person. In addition to supporting Promise Place, the timing of the donation aims to draw attention to the larger issue of family violence during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
SANY America presented a check to Promise Place at its headquarters From left to right: Scott Beck, director of Human Resources for SANY America; Ben Miller, vice president of sales for construction equipment, SANY America; Vanessa Wilkins, executive director of Promise Place; and Nick Rider, Promise Place Board Chair
“At SANY America, our employees are passionate and committed to supporting fantastic charities such as Promise Place within the community where we live and work," said Ben Miller, vice president of sales for construction equipment. "Promise Place is an organization that is making an outstanding contribution to domestic violence awareness. This will mark our second donation of the year to them and we hope to be able to contribute even more in the future. They do great work. We are proud to help them maximize their impact within our community.”
The American flag-wrapped SY215C was earmarked to raise money for the Travis Mills Foundation, an organization established to support re-calibrated veterans and their families through adaptive activities and sponsored retreats. The foundation is another esteemed charity among SANY team members and dealer partners. The founder, Travis Mills, was a featured speaker at the 2020 SANY Dealer Meeting earlier this year.
On October 15, Miller, together with Joe Duplessis, SANY’s Northeast District sales manager, hand-delivered a check for $33,504.62 and an SY35U excavator to the Travis Mills Foundation at their veteran’s retreat facility in Maine.
“The Travis Mills Foundation is a great organization that supports our veterans, and we at SANY America, along with our entire Dealer Partner network across the U.S., feel passionately about working to support them,” said Miller. “As we continue to grow our roots in America through increasing our equipment production, hiring more Americans and growing our American dealer network, it is important that we give back to our community and country. This aligns with the longstanding commitment of SANY to embrace first-class contributions to society, one of our three guiding principles. SANY America and our Dealer Partner network are proud to support the Travis Mills Foundation and their work with U.S. veterans and their families.”
