Lenawee Community Foundation lauds Brazeway for years of generosity

MADISON TWP. — For more than 70 years, Brazeway, a manufacturing company headquartered in Adrian that specializes in aluminum extrusion and heat transfer components, has believed in the concept of giving back to the community.

Giving to the community is one of the core values at Brazeway, founded in 1946 by Charlie Hickman and Al Goldsmith, and it's something the company and its employees are "purposeful" about, according to current Brazeway President and CEO Terry Sheehan.

"The Hickman family has set a tradition and a legacy of giving and it's a tradition that the Brazeway team continues to embrace," he said. "We take that philosophy to all of our locations. Our founding families live in the Lenawee County community and continue to make an impact."

The impact of Brazeway's generosity was celebrated May 10 when the Lenawee Community Foundation honored the company for its numerous donations to the community foundation and for continually making a difference throughout Lenawee County.

Brazeway began working with the Lenawee Community Foundation and opened an account in 1999, according to Bronna Kahle, LCF president and CEO. To date, through grants, scholarships and awards, Brazeway has invested $1.3 million to the community foundation, which then is responsible for putting those funds back to work, making a difference across the county.

The money donated to the community foundation from Brazeway, Kahle said, includes but is not limited to funds that have benefited such organizations as Re-Bicycle Lenawee, Share the Warmth of Lenawee, the American Red Cross, the Frank and Shirley Dick Family YMCA of Lenawee County, Catholic Charities, Catherine Cobb Domestic Violence Shelter, Tiny Purpose, Imagination Library, Lenawee County Department on Aging, Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee, HOPE Community Center, Goodwill, the Adrian Symphony Orchestra, Tecumseh Youth Theatre, senior centers around Lenawee County, the Adrian Rea Literacy Center, Care Pregnancy Center of Lenawee, United Way, scholarships and food pantries throughout the county, Humane Societies, the Lenawee YOUTH Council, Associated Charities and many more.

"Truly, your donations have touched just about every citizen in Lenawee County when you think about the arts, and you think about all of the other different organizations I have mentioned, it's because of Brazeway. Thank you for what you are doing," Kahle said.

The Lenawee Community Foundation, Kahle added, believes in the change that's possible when people work together and combine its gifts. Brazeway, she said, believes in that idea and is a leader across Lenawee County in showing that teamwork can make a difference.

The Brazeway Believes campaign, which is conducted through Lenawee Cares (an outreach arm of the Lenawee Community Foundation), was also celebrated last week and was presented with a check displaying the amount of funds the campaign raised for the community in 2022.

Brazeway Believes generated $109,792.32 last year, making it the most productive fund in the recent Lenawee Cares campaign, Kahle said. The presented check was paid to the order of "Positive Impact in the Community."

Brazeway's generosity has helped people attend college, assisted in times of disaster, allowed families to receive counseling services, housed the homeless, fed the hungry, comforted those who have lost a loved one, provided safe spaces, helped senior citizens and domestic violence survivors, protected animals, aided citizens with disabilities to fully participate in the community, promoted the arts, and so much more, according to an email from Paula Trentman, vice president and director of grants and programs for the Lenawee Community Foundation.

There are currently 60 employees on the Adrian campus of Brazeway, Sheehan said, and he referred to each of the employees as "pacesetters" in Lenawee County when it comes to campaigning and giving back in some form or another.

"We like that it has a local affiliation," he said of why Brazeway has been partnering with the Lenawee Community Foundation for 24 years. "We feel really good about the decisions of the foundation in terms of who they are working with. They are able to assess, maybe better than we can, where the real needs are."

Jose Salazar, corporate human resources generalist and a two-year team member with Brazeway, has a leading role in the upcoming Lenawee Cares campaign for 2023. He and Dan Solis, product development engineering technician at Brazeway, will be the next Lenawee Cares campaign co-chairs.

Over the next several months, Salazar and Solis will be stressing the importance of the community getting behind the idea of giving back.

One of their goals heading into the Lenawee Cares campaign season, Salazar said, is it doesn't matter about the amount given; what matters is to encourage the behavior of giving back.

"One thing that my goal is, is to get the under-40 crowd to get into the habit of giving," he said. "It doesn't have to be a lot, but at least get into the habit of (giving)."

The under-40 crowd, Solis added, is tomorrow's builders, while the over-40 crowd is today's builders.

"If we can get more people to contribute that would be great," Solis said. "Brazeway's ultimate goal is to have 100% commitment from everybody. If we can do that, that would make a huge difference."

All donations and funds given to the Lenawee Community Foundation are invested back into Lenawee County within a 12-month period, Kahle said.

The $109,000 from the Brazeway Believes campaign this year is up from last year, Salazar said, when the same campaign brought in just more than $100,000.

"For me, Brazeway Believes has been an inherited campaign and a well-established program," he said. "One thing I noticed was that not everyone was contributing, nor the younger folks were really contributing. And it's not because they didn't care about the community, I think it's more so just the habit of giving. Sometimes when you give your money away you don't see where it goes. Part of the reason for setting this up was to show people their donations through the Lenawee Community Foundation actually impact the community."

In addition to its headquarters in Adrian at 2711 E. Maumee St., Brazeway has locations in Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Shelbyville, Indiana; and Monterrey, Mexico. The aluminum extrusion and heat transfer components it specializes in are used for heating, ventilation and air conditioning units; commercial refrigeration and automotive applications.