Mercury Marine is more than just a marine manufacturing plant that employs over 3,100 people at its world headquarters in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

What you may not know about Mercury is just how committed the company is to the families of the employees that work there or the families in the surrounding counties.

For example, Mercury Marine holds a company-wide food donation drive called “Fill the Boat” where in June 2014, employees in Fond du Lac donated around than 3,000 items and $7,500 to the Fondy Food Pantry. 2014 was the 4th year Mercury Marine has held this event and it has grown each year since it began.

In 2012, Mercury Marine launched the Fond du Lac STEM Academy where the focus is placed on cultivating a growing interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The goal is to get kids as young as 3rd grade interested in science so they have a good base to pull from before entering high school and the job market.

Mercury Marine is one of a few Wisconsin employers that offer up summer hours to its salaried employees. The summer hours vary by department, but call for early departure every Friday or every other Friday provided that the extra hours were put in during the work week. The goal is to allow Mercury Marine employees to spend more time with their family—and hopefully out on the water!

In 2014, Mercury Marine is hosting its own “Fill the Bus” initiative where employees are encouraged to donate school supplies that will be distributed as part of a community-led project called “Back to School” that will make sure that qualifying students in Fond du Lac County have the supplies they need to begin the school year this September.

The Mercury Marine Museum opened in April 2014 inside of the Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac. Admission to the museum is only $1, but free to all immediate family members of Mercury Marine. Inside, visitors will witness 75 years of history that began back in 1939. One hundred percent of admission fees are donated to local charities and a check is distributed at the end of each month to the chosen charity.

Mercury Marine has a robust partnership with United Way and in 2013, helped to raise $93,218 for the charity. The Brunswick Public Foundation, Mercury’s parent company added an additional $80,000 bringing the total contribution to $173,000 in 2013. Over the past two years, Mercury employees have contributed more than $172,000 with an additional $170,000 coming from donations through the Brunswick Public Foundation.

The company is also the main sponsor of Walleye Weekend, which is Fond du Lac’s largest free family festival. Over 100,000 people spend the weekend taking in live music, games, activities and the very popular Mercury Marine National Walleye Tournament.

Mercury Marine is also leading the charge in the marine industry to get boaters out on the water and stressing the importance of affordability and wholesome family fun. Recently, Mercury introduced four new engines, three outboards and a sterndrive. All four engines outperform the engine they are replacing, but better yet for families, they are more affordable and allow boaters to buy a new engine or re-power their current boat with a lighter, faster and quieter engine.

Mercury Marine doesn’t only contribute to its own employees and their families, but families across the state of Wisconsin benefit from Mercury Marine. Each job at Mercury creates 0.6 jobs in the local community which equates to almost 2,000 new jobs created because Mercury Marine decided to stay in Wisconsin. In addition, Mercury has invested over $500MM since 2009 on research and development and capital expansion—85% of that stayed right here in the state of Wisconsin with great contractors that have supported our growth and capacity expansion.

Lee Gordon is the Director of Public Relations at Mercury Marine.  Gordon comes to Mercury with an accomplished career as a television anchor for CBS and FOX affiliates across the country, including Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Fla. For the past few years, he has been the director of corporate communications at 180 Communications, a public relations firm in Tallahassee. Gordon also spent time as a sideline reporter for the NFL on FOX , is a public speaker, and does media training for athletes and corporate executives across the country. Gordon is a graduate at Illinois State University and started his career as an Associate Producer at WFLD (FOX) in Chicago (completing internships at WLS (ABC), WFLD (FOX) and WSCR-AM in Chicago). Lee is married and has two young children. If you want to reach him, email  lee.gordon@mercmarine.com or send a tweet to @leegordonbrand