Volvo Group North America Donates to Nonprofits, Greensboro Virus Relief Fund and Locally Produces Personal Protective Equipment

In response to growing demand for financial and in-kind support throughout the Piedmont Triad, including scarce supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), Volvo Group North America, headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, is doing its part to support the community’s response to the coronavirus.
Volvo Group North America Donates to Nonprofits, Greensboro Virus Relief Fund and Locally Produces Personal Protective Equipment
In response to growing demand for financial and in-kind support throughout the Piedmont Triad, including scarce supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), Volvo Group North America, headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, is doing its part to support the community’s response to the coronavirus.

Volvo Group North America announced today a $40,000 donation to the Greensboro Relief Fund, established by the United Way of Greater Greensboro, the City of Greensboro and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, to assist local children and families impacted by the virus. This is in addition to Volvo Group donations of $20,000 to Out of the Garden Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to those facing food insecurity, and $8,000 to Guilford Education Alliance to support Peck Elementary with laptops for online learning.

“There are countless individuals we rely on to keep our community thriving, healthy and safe through this pandemic,” said Martin Weissburg, president of Mack Trucks and chairman of Volvo Group North America. “The Volvo Group and our employees want to do our part to support the many heroes who are responding to calls for help in our community.”

The Greensboro Relief Fund is addressing several areas of need, including: food insecurities, such as homebound seniors and families with children; education interruptions, including children in early Head-Start through postsecondary; employment reductions, such as reduced hours, layoffs and furlough; housing vulnerabilities, such as rental assistance and shelters for homeless; medical access, such as transportation or those in need of homebound supports; and business disruption, such as resources for the small business community. To date, 58 local nonprofits received more than $1.3 million from the Relief Fund.

“The generosity of corporate leaders like the Volvo Group, puts the region in a position to recover from the pandemic because resources are being invested in the well-being of those in the greatest need,” said Michelle Gethers-Clark, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Greensboro.

Locally Produced PPE

Through internal crowdsourcing of the best designs, materials and assembly techniques, Volvo Group’s Technical Center in Greensboro is producing face shields and ear guards for Cone Health in Greensboro. To date, Cone Health has more than 1,000 locally made items. The Volvo Group previously donated to the hospital network several thousand pieces of PPE, such as safety glasses, gloves and various types of masks from its internal stock.

Employees at the Technical Center converted existing technology on site to accommodate PPE assembly. The types of equipment put to service include fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers and stereolithography (SLA) 3D systems. Employees owning 3D printers are also producing PPE supplies at home.

Says Michelle Schneider, Chief Philanthropy Officer for Cone Health, “Our community’s response and actions in these unprecedented times has been inspirational. Donations and innovations from organizations like the Volvo Group lift our spirits and make a huge impact on everyone working on the front lines. We are so grateful.”

The Technical Center is one of eight Volvo Group North America facilities creating personal protective equipment supplies – face shields, ear guards or headbands for face shields. In total, tens of thousands PPE units are being donated from:

  • Volvo Group – Powertrain Operations (Hagerstown, Maryland); Technical Center (Greensboro, North Carolina);
  • Volvo Trucks – New River Valley manufacturing facility (Dublin, Virginia);
  • Mack Trucks – Lehigh Valley Operations (Macungie, Pennsylvania);
  • Volvo Construction Equipment – Shippensburg manufacturing facility (Shippensburg, Pennsylvania);
  • Volvo Penta of the Americas – U.S. headquarters (Chesapeake, Virginia); Germantown engineering facility (Germantown, Wisconsin);
  • Nova Bus – Saint-Eustache manufacturing facility (Sainte-Eustache, Quebec, Canada).

So far, items have been donated to multiple hospitals, EMS providers, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes and pharmacies in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Quebec, Canada. Deliveries are increasing as prototype designs are reviewed by local medical professionals, based on specific needs identified by the medical facility.

The Volvo Group is also lending its purchasing expertise to source needed materials for PPE production, and Greensboro-based employees are performing virtual volunteering, meeting social distancing requirements.

“We are proud to support pandemic relief efforts in the communities where we live and work, including right here in the Piedmont Triad,” Weissburg said.

The Volvo Group drives prosperity through transport solutions, offering trucks, buses, construction equipment, power solutions for marine and industrial applications, financing and services that increase customer uptime and productivity. Founded in 1927, the Volvo Group is committed to shaping the future landscape of sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions. The Volvo Group is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, employs 104,000 people and serves customers in more than 190 markets. In 2019, net sales amounted to about $45.7 billion. Volvo shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.volvogroup.com

For further information, please contact

Mary Beth Halprin,
Volvo Group North America,
phone- 336-389-2375,
email mary.beth.halprin@volvo.com.

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