Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Hope On Wheels: Hyundai Awards Millions To Hospital Research For Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, South Korean automotive brand Hyundai Motor Company announced it will award $10.5 million in research grants to hospitals across the U.S. during September.

This year marks the 17th year Hyundai Motor America and its non-profit organization, Hyundai Hope On Wheels, will continue its battle against childhood cancer. The brand created its non-profit organization in 1998 to help raise funds for pediatric cancer. Hope On Wheels began as a group of New England-area Hyundai dealers who were committed to fighting pediatric cancer. The group launched a local initiative to support the Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It has since expanded to become a national independent organization supported by Hyundai Motor Company.

To date, there are more than 820 dealers nationwide dedicated to the cause.
Most recently, the organization announced it has awarded over $100 million in lifetime funding to childhood cancer research. In addition to achieving this milestone, Hyundai Hope announced a 2015 national campaign christened “Every Handprint Tells a Story.” The theme of the campaign is to communicate how every child’s handprint represents their stories, dreams, desires, and hopes, whether they’re completing a round of chemotherapy, celebrating a beautiful new head of hair, or playing their favorite sport.

The campaign will showcase videos profiling adolescent cancer patients, their parents, and families’ stories of courage and confidence. Each week, a family’s story will be posted on the Hyundai Hope On Wheels website as well as social media channels.

Hope On Wheels has provided an interactive element where visitors can lend their own hand in the fight by changing their social media avatar and sharing a child’s story, or by donating to fund research.

You can also add your hands in the fight to #endchildhoodcancer. Simply go to the website and click “Add My Handprint” to join the fight against childhood cancer.

The fight to end pediatric cancer is a crucial one. The National Cancer Institute spends over $4.8 billion in healthcare, but spends less than four percent of its budget on research for pediatric cancer research. More importantly, every 36 minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer, making it the leading cause of death by disease for children in the U.S.

In 2014, more than 1,000 children aged 0 to 14 were expected to die of cancer.


No comments: