Proud employees volunteer to help others
Home is the Key partner Nissan has supported Habitat for Humanity for 14 years, donating close to $17 million and helping to build 92 homes — and counting.
The partnership started in 2005 when Nissan donated 50 trucks and mobilized its employees to help after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated large areas along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Fourteen years, millions of dollars and more than 106,000 volunteer hours later, Nissan employees are still going strong in their efforts. More than 6,000 Nissan employees have given their time and talents to help build homes all across the world, ultimately helping Habitat serve hundreds of families throughout the U.S. and beyond.
Two employees that exemplify Nissan’s commitment to Habitat are Seth Gammons and Dan Bedore.
Seth Gammons, who is an analyst with Nissan, is a core volunteer in Dallas and has also built with Habitat as part of the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. Here is what he has to say about his longstanding volunteer efforts with Habitat: “I have had the pleasure of participating in Nissan’s Habitat for Humanity house-building efforts since 2006. It is life-changing to see people from all over the country come to one spot and swing hammers for a good cause.”
Seth is already planning to participate in his fourth Carter Work Project, this year in Nashville. “Once you go and truly step into this world, you are hooked. You will come back over and over. I have been volunteering for 13 years and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon,” he says.
Dan Bedore, director of corporate communications for Nissan North America, has also volunteered on many builds and serves on Habitat Greater Nashville’s board of directors. “Whenever we’re on a build site,” he says, “I am so impressed with the dedication of the Habitat staff who are there to ensure that the volunteers have a productive, educational and rewarding experience as they help families build their new, quality homes.”
For Dan, the whole point of the mission was summed up recently when he got to meet a 19-year-old young man who had grown up in a Habitat home and, 10 years later, was in his second year of college. “He shared that it was the stability of growing up in a safe environment, a family neighborhood, and in his mother’s Habitat for Humanity home that put him on the right path to a bright future.”
