Over the years, BAE Systems and its employees have established a tradition of community support in the many locations in which BAE Systems operates across the nation.
BAE Systems Land & Armaments employees Dennis Jenks and Alvin Cheng have put in hundreds of hours helping local high school students in California build robots for the For Inspiration & Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics competition.
Jenks and Cheng, both mechanical engineers, are mentoring students and helping them develop interest in choosing a career in engineering.
"I have been mentoring FIRST Robotics teams for nine years and see the benefit of the program," said Jenks. "These kids learn valuable life lessons of teamwork, problem solving and working under a tight schedule - things they’ll need when they begin their careers".
Cheng also understands the value of participating in FIRST. As a high school student, Cheng was on a FIRST robotics team. Now, he gives back to the program by helping students on the BAE Systems sponsored teams. In addition to hands-on work with the robots, Cheng also put in countless hours serving on the planning committee of Cal Games, an off-season FIRST event.
U.S. Combat Systems (USCS) supports surrounding communities by holding annual United Way campaigns at its work sites. The Minneapolis site alone has raised almost $1 million for the organization in the last three years, through both employee and corporate gifts.
Hundreds of employees participate each year in Caring Connection projects, visiting United Way-funded agencies and performing work ranging from cleaning shelving and freezers at a food shelf to building furniture for low-income families.
USCS holds annual toy, food, and school supply drives to help needy families in the community, and quarterly in-plant blood drives are held for the Memorial Blood Center of the Twin Cities.
USCS provides educational scholarships to 11 high schools in Minneapolis (Minnesota), Aberdeen (South Dakota) and Elgin (Oklahoma) to promote student interest in a technical degree at colleges and universities. The scholarship winners are selected by the high school staff based on a jointly developed set of attributes from BAE Systems and the high school. Winners of these scholarships receive their certificates acknowledging the scholarship at the high school awards ceremony in the Spring of each year. In general, the selected student must be in the top 5% of academic performance for math and science at their school and desire to take a technical subject for their college degree.
USCS also provides donations to certain tax exempt charities and associations to support the needs of the local communities and the needs of military families around the world. USCS celebrates the end of each calendar year with a major charitable fund drive for the United Way when employee giving is matched by company dollars that are authorized for charitable giving. Plus, BAE Systems has a Charity Challenge each year where business units plan and execute fund raising activities for a selected charity.
