ANNA – Honda of America Mfg. has been committed to giving back to its communities since the very beginning. Whether it is Honda’s support of young scholars, or an associate serving food to those in need, one thing is certain – Honda and its associates are just as committed to building quality communities as they are quality products.
It’s a philosophy reflected in how the Anna Engine Plant gives back to the community by hosting 12 Community Blood Center (CBC) blood drives per year. CBC visited Anna on July 17 to present Honda with the 2014 Platinum Level LifeSaving Ambassadors Club award for another outstanding year of partnership.
The blood drive campaign is an example of Honda not just doing its part for the community, but going the extra distance. In 2014, Honda became the top corporate blood drive sponsor in Shelby County with 969 donor registrations and 867 blood donations.
Honda is already on its way to another outstanding year. The Anna plant hosted its 7th and 8th CBC blood drives of 2015 on Tuesday, July 28 and Wednesday, July 29. The drives topped collection goals with a two-day total of 175 donors, including 12 first-time donors, and 153 units donated.
Anna Engine Plant Manager Paul Dentinger gathered the company’s top blood donors to accept the CBC award. The group included Mark Koverman, who has made 117 lifetime donations at the Honda blood drives and at community blood drives across Shelby County.
“It’s a representation of all the people and the community here,” said Dentinger. “It’s small town neighbors. Honda is where they work. We definitely want to be a company that exists to help society. It’s the people that make Honda what it is today.”
It’s been more than 30 years since Honda began making motorcycle engines in Ohio. Today, statewide, Honda employs 13,000 Ohioans at four manufacturing plants, a major R&D center for product development, a production engineering center for the creation of production tooling, a regional vehicle distribution center and other operations supporting Honda’s auto manufacturing in North America.
The Anna engine plant began production in 1985 and is the largest Honda engine plant in the world, with 2,800 employees and a production capacity of 1.16 million engines. In recent years, Honda has invested $800 million in the Anna plant and the latest expansion has boosted its size to 2.4 million square feet.
In 2014, America’s Blood Centers went beyond convention to honor the entire Shelby County Donor Community with the Award of Excellence for “Most Productive Blood Drive.” Honda was a key corporate blood drive partner in the county’s success story. Honda added four blood drives in 2014, increasing participation and units donated by 33 percent.
During the 2014 nomination period, Shelby County hosted 125 blood drives with 7,884 donor registrations and 6,944 blood donations. One out of four residents eligible to donate are blood donors, the highest percentage in the CBC service area.
CBC thanked Honda for allowing team members to donate at work, which usually requires supervisors to take their places on the line.
“Organizations such as Honda change the future for people,” said CBC Donor Relations Director Andrew Keelor. “Without you, we can’t do what we do. You change the community through employment and through saving lives.”
