Room to Read

How Honda West is Changing The World with Room To Read

Honda's corporate tag line is "The Power of Dreams". In that spirit, we have chosen the Room To Read organization as our partner in helping to make a difference in the world. The management and staff at Honda West feel that a company should have a higher purpose beyond serving customers and providing employment in their community. The question was, how?

Honda West decided to support an international organization that changes lives through education in developing countries. Based on the premise of a "hand up" rather than a "hand out", Room to Read's mission is to "transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education."

To that end, Honda West set a goal of building a school in a developing country to allow local children to break the cycle of poverty by giving them the opportunity to go to school and get an education. Starting in January 2010, we challenged ourselves to donate enough money to build an entire school, in only one year. With the help of our customers, we are working to fund the construction of new school in Nepal. And we have almost reached our goal!

The location for construction of the school funded by Honda West has been selected. Shree Sanskriti Sadan Secondary School is in Durandanda, 185 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu, Nepal. It will be a single-storey building with 3 classrooms and a library, accommodating 731 students & 17 teachers, Grades kindergarten through 10. Estimated completion date: mid-2011.

The community of Durandanda co-invests with Honda West and Room to Read through volunteer labor and donated materials, thus empowering its residents and giving them a sense of ownership contributing to the long-term sustainability of the project. Our 60% contribution consists of construction materials delivered to the project site, skilled construction workers, community training & management and building design.

  • The total cost of the project : $35,000.
  • We contribute $25 for every new & used vehicle we sell.
  • As of September 30th, we have 956 bricks, representing 68% of our goal.
  • Total funds to date $23,900.

A plaque will be displayed on the school with a dedication to read: "This School was established through the cooperation of the local community with Room to Read. It is dedicated to the children of Nepal whose future depends on an education, and with thanks to the customers and employees of Honda West for their belief that corporate responsibility means translating words into action."

Please check back often as we update date this information frequently as we move closer to our goal.

See the Room to Read Videos