SANY America Auctions Excavators to Lift More than Dirt

SANY America presented a check and an SY35U excavator to The Travis Mills Foundation at its facility in Rome, Maine. (L-R) are Joe Duplessis, Northeast District sales manager of SANY America; Travis Mills, founder of The Travis Mills Foundation; and Ben Miller, vice president of sales of construction equipment, SANY America.

Tue October 27, 2020
Sany America

From its headquarters in Peachtree City, Ga., SANY America produces heavy equipment that is made for America and sold through an expanding North American dealer network.

Recently, two very distinct SANY excavators hit the road on their way to upstate New York. The focus of a recent equipment auction held by SANY America, the two SY215C excavators, one featuring an American flag wrap, the other an all-black model complete with chrome accents, were auctioned in September, and their combined sales helped raise more than $55,000 for charity.

SANY's eye-catching excavators were exclusively wrapped for the 2020 ConExpo trade show in Las Vegas. The enthusiasm and popularity of the machines gave SANY the idea to auction them off to dealers with the goal of raising money for two charities in particular, 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 SANY 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 Oct. 19, 2020, Vanessa Wilkins, executive director of Promise Place, and Nick Rider, Promise Place board chair, visited SANY's facility in Peachtree City 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. (L-R) are Scott Beck, director of human resources of SANY America; Ben Miller, vice president of sales of construction equipment, SANY America; Vanessa Wilkins, executive director of Promise Place; and Nick Rider, Promise Place board chair.

Ben Miller, vice president of sales of construction equipment at SANY America, says, "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. 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 Travis Mills 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. It was an inspirational moment for many members of the SANY team.

On Oct. 15, 2020, Ben Miller, SANY America's VP of sales of construction equipment, 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."

For more information, visit www.sanyamerica.com.

This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.