An initiative by Basa Bookstore to celebrate International Book Giving Day last month, Lakbay-Kuwentuhan hopes to raise awareness about the importance of education among Filipino children and encourage them to read by distributing locally published books. The campaign aims to give away 5,000 books to public schools, reach 10,000 students, and facilitate 20 storytelling workshops for 1,000 public school teachers across the Philippines in 2023 alone.

For the whole month of February, the Lakbay-Kuwentuhan caravan traveled around South Luzon delivering storybooks to children from Laguna, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Masbate, and Albay in the Bicol region.

“When we started the book-giving caravan amidst a pandemic and after Typhoon Ulysses, Toyota was eager to support our cause. We at Lakbay-Kuwentuhan aim to bring Filipino stories written by Filipino authors for Filipino children to communities across the country to lessen the effects of the pandemic on children’s reading attitudes and in support of DepEd’s Bawat Bata Bumabasa campaign,” said Rey Bufi, Founder and Chief Storytelling officer of Basa Bookstore.

With over 2,430 kilometers travelled, Toyota Motor Philippines has helped the organization reach 12 communities in the said provinces to serve more than 3,000 students. Lakbay-Kuwentuhan managed to conduct three workshops and give six storytelling sessions in its last caravan. “For these, we and the local communities are so grateful for Toyota’s role in moving our world,” added Rey.

The Toyota Lite Ace, the kasosyo sa asenso of Filipinos, helps business owners, especially small entrepreneurs, succeed toward further improving the quality lives in their communities. Equipped with the size and capacity to transfer items and goods with ease and speed, it helped mobilized the Lakbay-Kuwentuhan caravan and delivered books to curious children in no time.

“Part of promoting better quality of life for Filipinos is nurturing young minds and providing them with the tools for continuous learning. We at TMP believe that all children deserve quality education as this will prepare them for their future and help mold them into the person they hope to become. We support initiatives such as this from Basa Bookstore and we are honored to be part of this caravan. We thank them for trusting Toyota and we look forward to more similar future activities powered by our goal of creating mobility for all,” said Elvin Luciano, Assistant Vice President of Marketing Services Department of Toyota Motor Philippines.

Designed to have easy operation and maintenance, and offered to MSMEs at an affordable price, the Toyota Lite Ace is Filipinos’ partner in pursuing endeavors. Also available in Pickup, Cargo, and FX variants, the Lite Ace’s high efficiency, flexible load capacity, and low fuel consumption, enable drivers and business owners to maximize their trips and increase savings. Further savings that can help their businesses are assured as the Toyota Lite Ace is designed and manufactured with reliability, durability, and longevity in mind.