Nonprofits competing for brand new car
Toyota program:


Five NH agencies seeking online votes from the public.

By MELANIE PLENDA
Union Leader Correspondent

GILSUM — Toyota Motor Co. is out to help nonprofits in a big way — donating 100 new vehicles in 100 days to social agencies and organizations across the country through its 100 Cars for Good program.

AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region is one of five New Hampshire finalists in the program, putting it in the running for a brand new car — if the agency gets enough online votes from the public.

While Toyota supplies the cars and the warranties, community participation decides who gets the cars.

Toyota will showcase five nonprofit organizations each day for 100 days on Toyota’s Facebook page (http://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood) and communities are encouraged to gather as many votes as possible.

AIDS Services will be one of the five organizations highlighted for voting on Thursday, June 2.

Visitors to the Toyota Facebook page can vote once for the organization they feel is most deserving of a new Toyota vehicle.

The Monadnock social service agency made its own video for the competition (youtube.com/ watch?v=y8Y5pjpGQXI), which highlights its need for reliable transportation.

“In rural New Hampshire, transportation is always an issue,” said Arne Grandell, agency board chairman.

“Unlike more urban centers, public transport doesn’t exist in outlying villages and towns.

For people living on a limited fixed income, owning a car can be cost-prohibitive, not to mention the rising cost of gas.

We’ll put this vehicle to very good use in many different ways.”

Vying for cars

In addition to AIDS Services, other New Hampshire agencies that have been chosen as finalists include the New Hampshire Food Bank, Girls Inc. of New Hampshire, Families in Transition in Manchester and Granite State Independent Living in Concord.

Each agency gets its own voting day. The New Hampshire Food Bank was first on Wednesday. The rest of the New Hampshire agencies’ voting days are Girls Inc., June 1; AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region, June 2; Familiesin Transition, July 13; and Granite State Independent living, July 14.

Toyota: Out to help

Toyota, on its website, says it “wants to salute do-gooders by giving 100 cars over 100 days to organizations that could really use a new set of wheels.”

Beginning in March, the automaker allowed registered 501c(3) non-profits to apply online through its Facebook page at facebook.com/ toyota, for a chance to win a Toyota Prius, Tacoma, Tundra, Highlander Hybrid, Sienna or Sienna Mobility.

Five hundred nonprofits were selected as finalists, and voting began earlier this month. A total of 100 vehicles will be given away.

Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good finalists were selected by an independent panel of judges that Toyota deemed experts in the fields of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. All finalists represent nonprofit organizations in a broad range of categories including animal welfare, arts, education, environment, health, safety and human services.

Participants created an online profile, which often include videos showcasing how the organization plans to use a new Toyota vehicle to do good in its community.

A vehicle will be awarded daily through Aug. 16. Voters may place one vote a day, each day, over the course of the program.

With each vehicle, Toyota Financial Services will provide a six-year 100,000 mile Toyota Vehicle Service Agreement to help provide extended protection from mechanical breakdowns beyond the vehicle warranty.

Assisting with HIV/AIDS

AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region has been around for 22 years and is the smallest of the state’s AIDS services organizations, said Susan McNeil, the executive director and the nonprofit’s sole employee.

But with the help of volunteers and a part-time, contracted case manager, O’Neil caters to the needs of 29 clients and family members — 50 people, every day.

If the agency wins, the new vehicle — replacing an old van — will be used to get clients to medical and dental appointments, some of which are in Boston, and to the food pantry eight miles away in Keene, as well as serving as a loaner vehicle when necessary.

The group also provides education and prevention programming and outreach to gays.

McNeil said the agency makes regular trips to Boston to get clients to dental care.

Since many are on Medicaid and Medicare, the only dental work that’s covered is extraction. But a dental school in Boston will do a wide variety of work so that the clients don’t have to lose their teeth and can get preventive care.

Each trip in the agency’s 1996 Dodge van, given the cost of gas, is about $138, she said.

But with a new, energy-efficient vehicle, it could save on gas and safely make the trip to Boston or anywhere else.

Dubbing themselves “the little agency that could,” the organization made a twominute YouTube video in its application to the contest — illustrating how much it uses the van, named Lola, to get clients to where they need to be.

“We’ve used it to move people, to get to the food bank and back to haul equipment


— we use it for everything,” McNeil said. “As you can see in the video it’s an antique.”

Community support

Computer Solutions of Keene, at 117 Main St., will set up a voting station inside the store so that people can casttheir vote for the agency.

According to Bill Stevens, retail sales manager, “We applaud the success of AIDS Services in making it to the finalist round in Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program. As the only New Hampshire agency outside of Greater Manchester to be chosen, as well as the smallest, we’re rooting for local residents to come out and cast their vote in the store from 8 in the morning to 8 at night.”

For a complete list of the Toyota 100 Cars for Good finalists, go to facebook.com/ toyota.