Selflessness and the spirit of giving always abound during the holiday season. And Honda associates truly take such spirit to heart, as evidenced by their hard work nationwide to make sure that the season is enjoyable for everyone—especially those outside of Honda.

For the past few months, Honda H&D associates, contractors, and contingent associates from across the country contributed to four diverse community-based projects, from Secret Santas to Angel Trees and the always popular Community Care Train.

Power Equipment associates from Haw River, North Carolina partnered with Marine associates in Florida to work with the Christmas Cheer of Alamance County to ensure that seven families could enjoy the holidays. These families, which had a total of 13 children, provided wish lists to the team, who then bought them groceries, clothes, and school supplies for the new year.

“I enjoyed my experience with Christmas Cheer because not only was I able to help the community, but I got to see my colleagues’ passion and empathy for helping others,” associate Marie-Claire Kore said. “It is really inspiring to see how they internalize the Honda values and use those as motivation to improve the surrounding community. ”

To support the Los Angeles Department of Children & Family Services, 26 volunteers from Torrance, California, led by Anna Reyes, purchased gifts for 30 local children. “There are currently 28,000 children in the Los Angeles Foster Care system,” explained Reyes. “Although 30 seems like a small amount, we are happy to help as much as we can.” And for those 30 families that HRA supported, their gifts were no doubt a big surprise.

To kick off the Ohio group’s holiday project, volunteers signed up to purchase Secret Santa gifts for local youth. In total, associates provided gifts for 250 children. They also volunteered to help distribute gifts to the families. “Every year I look through the list of children and pick out the one or two kids who have some interesting requests. I usually try to find the kids who seem to like to tinker and build things,” said engineer Michael George. “These are usually the kids who ask for LEGOs, buildable model cars, or puzzles. I go out and feel like a kid again when I’m picking out the right set of gifts for them. I feel like I’ve made an impact in a child’s holiday season. I hope that these gifts can raise these kids’ spirits as well as help them to have fun during the holidays and in the months to come.”

Honda R&D Powersports associates from Timmonsville, South Carolina adopted and provided gifts for a child through their Angel Tree project. “We all feel very fortunate,” said Allison Bradley, leader for this year’s project. “It was a great opportunity for us to give back to the community and make someone’s holidays a little better.” As this new year begins, Honda will continue to hold this spirit both in our hearts and in the months to come.