After the check presentation, the children will dip their hands in finger paint and place them on a white Hyundai Santa Fe to represent and share their personal triumphs with other children and families across the country. The vehicle then will travel the nation, visiting other children’s hospitals participating in handprint ceremonies.
“We are inspired every day by the brave children we meet at our Handprint Ceremonies,” said Ryan Rummerfield, General Manger for Beaverton Hyundai. “When the kids place their handprints on the car, we are honoring their brave battles against cancer, commemorating their triumphs and sharing their hope for the future with other children and their families across the country.”
“On behalf of Hyundai dealers across the country, Hope on Wheels is honored to continue its support for childhood cancer research in 2010 and recognize the brave children who are battling this disease,” said Oscar Leeser, President of the Hyundai Hope on Wheels Foundation and dealer owner of Hyundai of El Paso in El Paso, Texas. “We are proud to be able to award research grants to the Hyundai Scholars – they are the pediatric oncologists whose unwavering dedication to research helps to care for children facing cancer and gives them hope for a healthy future.”
Hyundai’s donation will specifically support the research of Charles Keller, M.D., F.A.A.P., a pediatric oncology researcher at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and a member of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Keller’s research focuses on long-term and near-term treatments for the childhood muscle cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma, and the childhood brain tumor, medulloblastoma, using molecularly targeted therapies.
“Our research team is grateful for this opportunity to further childhood cancer research on behalf of Hope on Wheels, Hyundai and their dedicated employees. The effect of Hope on Wheels can be tangibly seen across the nation, not only through the distinctive handprint cars, but through the innovative research that has been sponsored at so many academic hospitals and centers. We are honored to have this chance to do our part,” said Keller.
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, 11 a.m.
WHERE: OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, 700 S.W. Campus Drive, vehicle turnaround near the eternal flame.
DETAILS: Hyundai Hope on Wheels™ is the united effort of all 780 Hyundai dealers across the U.S. to raise awareness about childhood cancer and celebrate the lives of children battling the disease.
Hyundai Hope on Wheels has donated more than $14 million to childhood cancer research since 1998, when it began as a local initiative supported by New England-area Hyundai dealers. Every time a new Hyundai vehicle is sold in the U.S. $5 is donated to Hope on Wheels, which donates those funds to children’s hospitals across the country during the Hope on Wheels Tour.
This year’s tour will travel to more than 40 children’s hospitals and donate $2.1 million to support doctors engaged in childhood cancer research, making 2010 the largest single year of donations in the organization’s history.
The complete list of Hope on Wheels Tour stops, including benefiting hospital, is available at www.hopeonwheels.com.