At MH Equipment, Community Comes First!

In case you didn’t know, June 26th, 2020 is now and forever will be MH Equipment Day in Fairfield, Ohio! And, the Fairfield Food Pantry is forever grateful.

In a letter written by the Director of Operations, Paul Hagedorn provided the following overview of who MH Equipment is and what they represent. In his own words:

“MH Equipment is a privately held Material Handling Company located out of Peoria Illinois with 30 branches and approximately 950 employees. We have nearly 500 service technicians that help to make up that total. We sell, service, rent and repair forklifts and other types of material handling equipment. We have been in business since 1952 and have always encouraged our employees and business partners to recognize that – All People Matter, Passion Inspires and Purpose Unites.

 “MH Equipment encourages it’s employees to become involved in their communities. Several year ago, MH Equipment created His First Foundation which is an internal charitable program in which we commit 10% of our income annually to the Foundation. We encourage our employees to get involved in something within their communities, and His First Foundation will come alongside that passion and make a financial contribution on their behalf.  Our goal is to make our communities better and stronger where we live and work.

“In the last few months the Leadership group at MH Equipment committed that we would not experience layoffs for our employees due to the slowdown created by the COVID-19 Pandemic. They decided that instead of layoffs, they would allow our technicians the opportunity to make up any down time as volunteers within our communities. By doing this, we provided our technicians the opportunity to work their normal paid 40 hour week without the need to use up their available paid time off or experience a layoff. We also provided local Good Works Organizations with many hours of our technicians valuable time. Through this recent community outreach we have been able to serve – Master Provisions, Hamilton County Council on Aging, West College Hill Social Services and the Love Some Stable Equitherapy in Walton, KY among other organizations in need.

“For approximately the past 10 years we have had a company-wide initiative to provide food and money to local food banks in our communities each year. Each of our branches participates and gathers food and money to be distributed to the local food bank of their choice.  This year we were unable to participate in the same manner due to the covid-19 Pandemic. Instead, our corporate office encouraged our employees to make a 6 week cash donation of their own with the guarantee that MH Equipment would triple whatever the employees donated through His First Foundation. The response from our employees was outstanding resulting in over $180,000 in financial contributions across the entire company and a significant donation to the Fairfield Food Pantry. This has been a great example of how people respond in the face of adversity. I’m proud to be a member of such a great team.”

The Fairfield Food Pantry is beyond grateful for the generosity of MH Equipment, their employees, and the Foundation they have created to support the community. Southwestern Ohio is lucky to have such an outstanding organization in our backyards.

From left to right:
Judith Dirksen, Trustee & Pantry Co-Founder, Paul Hagedorn, MH Equipment, and Bill Woeste, Trustee of Fairfield Food Pantry and Fairfield City Councilman

From left to right:
Dan Grabowski, Trustee and Secretary of Fairfield Food Pantry, Judith Dirksen, Trustee & Pantry Co-Founder, Paul Hagedorn, MH Equipment, and Bill Woeste, Trustee of Fairfield Food Pantry and Fairfield City Councilman

From left to right:
Judith Dirksen, Trustee & Pantry Co-Founder, Paul Hagedorn, MH Equipment, and Dan Grabowski, Trustee and Secretary of Fairfield Food Pantry