Hypertherm celebrates 150,000 hours of community service during 50th anniversary year at the Upper Valley Haven’s Hixon House

Hypertherm, a U.S. based manufacturer of industrial cutting systems and software, is marking 150,000 hours of community service by preparing dinner for residents of the Hixon House, a shelter for homeless adults run by the Upper Valley Haven. The Upper Valley Haven is a nonprofit, that serves people struggling with poverty by providing food, shelter, education, service coordination, and other support.

Hypertherm Associates normally cook dinner for Hixon House residents on the first Wednesday of every month. At this month’s dinner though, Associate-volunteers took a minute to celebrate Hypertherm’s 150,000 Community Service Team hour with a quick photo.

“We are thrilled and proud to celebrate this momentous occasion at the Upper Valley Haven, who is one of our strongest and longest strategic partners,” said Stacey Chiocchio, Hypertherm’s Community Citizenship Manager. “Although we marked our 150,000th hour at the Hixon House, this achievement is a testament to the work of all Hypertherm Associates worldwide who have volunteered throughout the years as it is all of their hours that have collectively allowed us to reach this milestone.”

Though Hypertherm Associates have volunteered throughout Hypertherm’s entire 50-year history, the company’s current Community Service Time program was not formally introduced until 2003, when all Associates were granted 16 hours of paid time off to volunteer in the community. During that inaugural year, 73 of the 700 Associates working at Hypertherm at the time volunteered for 739 hours.

Like Hypertherm, the program has enjoyed steady and rapid growth since then with Hypertherm increasing it’s CST program to 24 hours per Associate in 2012 and 32 hours in 2017. Last year more than 86 percent of Associates served a combined 138,949 hours, an average of 21 hours per volunteer, with many serving in excess of their 32 hours by doing everything from physical labor to working in classrooms and serving terms on nonprofit Boards.

Hypertherm combines its volunteer work with philanthropic funding though its HOPE (Hypertherm Owners’ Philanthropic Endeavors) Foundation as the company believes close collaboration with nonprofit organizations will help it accelerate the positive impact Hypertherm hopes to have in the community.

Hypertherm designs and manufactures industrial cutting products for use in a variety of industries such as shipbuilding, manufacturing, and automotive repair. Its product line includes cutting systems, in addition to CNC motion and height controls, CAM nesting software, robotic software and consumables. Hypertherm systems are trusted for performance and reliability that result in increased productivity and profitability for hundreds of thousands of businesses. The company’s reputation for cutting innovation dates back 50 years to 1968, with Hypertherm’s invention of water injection plasma cutting. The 100 percent associate owned company has more than 1,400 associates along with operations and partner representation worldwide.