American Honda Pledges $5 Million for Katrina Relief

September 2, 2005 – In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, American Honda today announced a pledge of $5 million to the American Red Cross – Disaster Relief Fund. This contribution from the Honda family of companies, its associates, and dealers includes direct corporate contributions and special employee matching gift programs. Honda also is making available portable generators, water pumps, all terrain vehicles, personal watercraft, off-road motorcycles, and vehicles to agencies working in the affected areas.

American Honda has been in close communication with the American Red Cross (ARC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide support for relief efforts in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The ARC already has at its disposal twenty 12,000-watt Honda generators for use at emergency relief centers around the country. These generators are maintained through annual corporate contributions from American Honda.

Since both the ARC and FEMA have emphasized that the greatest current need is funding to support on-site emergency response teams, on August 31, 2005 American Honda implemented a special corporate matching gift program for its associates, contractors, temporary employees and retirees who would like to make a personal donation to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The company will match donations made by Honda personnel to the American Red Cross – Disaster Relief Fund on a dollar-for-dollar basis with no total limit to contributions. Donations made to the Disaster Relief Fund provide food, clothing, shelter, and other basic necessities to those forced from their homes.

American Honda Finance Corporation (AHFC) also has initiated its Disaster Relief Program that provides payment extensions and other accommodations to customers affected by this tragedy. Every effort is being made to provide assistance to AHFC customers.

The effort to provide support includes the efforts of many different Honda operations. For example: Honda Manufacturing of Alabama in Lincoln, Ala., has responded with a corporate contribution to the ARC Disaster Relief Fund and is standing by as requested to provide additional support. Honda of America Mfg. in Marysville, Ohio, is matching associate contributions under an annual program to local United Way agencies, some of which are providing resources to assist in the relief effort. AHFC offices in Atlanta, Ga. and Dallas, Texas are helping to provide food and other support to local charities that are accepting evacuees from the disaster areas, and AHFC corporate contributions are also being made to these charitable organizations. American Honda will continue to work with the ARC and FEMA to determine any future need for Honda products.

“Ford Motor Company Fund has pledged a total contribution of $1 million to disaster relief organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and America’s Second Harvest. This contribution includes a match of Ford employee donations to selected organizations. Ford employees are continuing to make donations.”

It sounds like a lovely gesture, until you realise that the people affected probably don’t even know where their cars are anyway. Many cars are totalled, and the insurance companies probably don’t have time to worry about cars at the moment. Aside from that, many people don’t have access to their bank accounts from where they are, so they couldn’t pay, even if they are still getting pay cheques somehow.

I think the execs sat down and said, “Do you think we’re going to get paid by these people while they’re stranded on rooftops and waiting for help? No? Okay … let’s make it sound good then.”

good job BMW.

Kudos to BMW.

I’ve sent mine.