Corporate Corner – CBS Parts Ltd.
Welcome to our Corporate Corner, a place where we get to know some of our corporate partners a little better. For our first issue we visited CBS Parts and talked with President, Kevin Hopton.
Q: Kevin, tell us a little about CBS Parts Ltd.
The company is a family run business started back in 1983 with three employees and its focus was and is to this day to distribute heavy duty truck, trailer and bus parts throughout B.C. to a wide range of customers including independent truckers to major fleets and repair facilities and everything in between.
We now have 160 employees in five locations along with two separate repair shop facilities.
Q: In your opinion, how important is it for corporations to partake in philanthropic activities and give back to the community?
I feel strongly about giving back to the community that has been so good to us in supporting our business.
A well supported community will only thrive and thus the people who live in that community are made up of the very same employees that you trust to help make our business successful, so it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Q: Why did you choose to partner with The Salvation Army?
In order to help people in all five community areas in B.C. that our branches are located we needed a bigger entity to support and administer our donations and The [Salvation] Army was certainly capable based on its size and reach.
The other two main reasons were the fact that The [Salvation] Army is not just about shelter but encompasses many other areas of hope and need; from women and children shelters, to feeding the hungry, to helping with addiction, to helping get people prepared to go into back into society. The other is that for every dollar donated, 86 to 87 cents makes it to those who need it most,
…as a business person I know I’m getting the most bang for my buck. No other major charity can say this.
Q: How did your company support The Salvation Army this year?
We support the Hope in The City Breakfast which is a tremendous event.
Q: What’s your favourite part about being involved with The Salvation Army?
My favourite part is knowing that there are people in The [Salvation] Army that are dedicated to giving hope and help where its need without judgement and that they are great at what they do.
