Providence TrinityKids Care, the only children’s hospice program serving Los Angeles and Orange counties, will today receive a Toyota Sienna minivan, courtesy of Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program, which awarded 100 vehicles over the course of 100 days to 100 deserving non-profit organizations. The Sienna minivan for Providence is one of 16 donated vehicles that have been specially built by Toyota to better assist those who are mobility-impaired, whether due to illness, age or disability.  The delivery took place at Toyota’s Torrance campus.

Providence TrinityKids Care is a pediatric hospice service for critically ill children and their families, whose team of medical experts provide their expertise to help keep children comfortable at home. The organization is the only dedicated in-home children’s hospice and palliative care program in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The organization plans to use its Toyota Sienna to develop its Transportation Program, which will help families get to and from medical appointments. 

Toyota introduced the U.S. auto industry’s first factory-installed, power rotating lift-up seat in the Sienna, which is the minivan selected by Providence TrinityKids Care. Toyota calls this feature Auto Access Seat, a lift-up seat designed to assist passengers to get in and out of the vehicle with ease and safety.  Ten other winning organizations will also receive a Toyota Sienna with this equipment.  Five of the winners will receive a Toyota Sienna Rampvan®, a lowered-floor minivan with a power ramp for wheelchair access.  These five Sienna minivans were converted by BraunAbility, a Toyota business partner, and the largest manufacturer of wheelchair-accessible vans and wheelchair lifts worldwide.

Winners of the Toyota 100 Cars for Good program were determined based on voting from the public. Each day, five organizations were profiled on Toyota’s Facebook page where the public was invited to show their support by voting to determine the winning non-profit organization. Each daily winner was awarded a new Toyota vehicle to help the organizations continue to do “good” in their local communities. The remaining finalists each received a $1000 grant from Toyota.

Public voting for the 100 Cars for Good program opened May 9, 2011 and continued through August 16.  Voters were allowed to place one vote per day, each day, over the course of the program.  Each day, the previous day’s winner was announced and five new nonprofit organizations were featured for voting.  Winning organizations could choose from the following vehicles: Prius, Tacoma, Tundra, Highlander Hybrid, Sienna or Sienna Mobility.  Toyota will provide a six-year, 100,000-mile Toyota Vehicle Service Agreement to provide extended protection beyond the vehicle warranty.

The 500 finalists, from which the 100 winners were ultimately selected, were chosen by an independent panel of judges who are experts in the fields of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. To learn more about all the finalists, including winning organizations, visit www.facebook.com/toyota and click on the 100 Cars for Good tab.

“Toyota is proud to add these modifications for the 16 winners of the Toyota 100 Cars for Good program that serve those who live with mobility impairment. We know that these changes will help each of the winning organizations further the ‘good’ they do each day.  Being a part of this program has been a joy and an honor as we got to know each of the winning organizations and the work they do. They all represent truly the best of human compassion, ingenuity and dedication, and we thank them for their ongoing service.” – Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

SOURCE Toyota Motor Sales

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