Hyundai Motors Donates $50,000 to Packard Hospital

Released by Hyundai Motors

PALO ALTO – Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is set to be the next stop on the national Hope on Wheels tour, an initiative driven by the more than 600 U.S. Hyundai dealers designed to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research. Hyundai dealers and Hyundai Motor America have contributed almost $6 million to the cause since 1998 through the company’s Helping Kids Win Against Cancer charitable program.

The Hope on Wheels tour features a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV covered with the handprints of children battling — and beating — cancer. At least ten children will add their prints to the mobile icon when Hope on Wheels rolls into town Wednesday, October 13 to make an appearance at the Children’s Hospital.

“We are grateful to Hyundai for supporting our research efforts and the care we are providing to save children from cancer,” said Michael Link, M.D., director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. “The opportunity to participate in the Hope on Wheels tour is an honor for our patients and their families, and gives them even more hope and strength. We thank Hyundai for its generosity and commitment to our community.”

The Handprint Ceremony will take place on October 13 at 10:00 a.m. in the circle drive in front of the hospital, located at 725 Welch Road. Attendees will include the participating children and their families; Michael Link, M.D., director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital; Harvey Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., chief of staff of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine; along with Peter Lewis and Shaun del Grande, representatives of the Western Hyundai Dealers Advertising Association and other San Francisco and San Jose metro area Hyundai Dealers.

As part of the ceremony, the Hyundai dealers will present a $50,000 donation to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Earmarked for the hospital’s cancer research, the donation underscores Hyundai’s long-standing commitment to pediatric cancer research.

“We are honored to have been selected to receive $50,000 from Hyundai for pediatric cancer research and treatment,” Dr. Cohen added. “Participating in the Hope on Wheels Tour will allow our patients and their families to join together with children across the nation in the fight against cancer. Hyundai’s dedication to cancer research will help us make even more progress in finding new treatments to save more of our young patients.”

“We are happy to make this contribution,” said Steve Lewis, Vice President of the Western Hyundai Dealers Advertising Association, as well as the Dealer at Bob Lewis Hyundai in San Jose. “Our dealers recognize the important work the physicians and researchers at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital are doing, and are proud to support the effort to find cures for childhood cancers. Through these children, we can also help celebrate their treatment milestones.”

Palo Alto and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, mark the thirteenth stop of Hyundai’s national Hope on Wheels tour this year. Previous tour beneficiaries have included Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, Duke Children’s Hospital in Durham, N.C., Children’s Hospital of Alabama Foundation in Birmingham, AL, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center in Missouri, The Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Children’s Hospital, Regional Medical Center in Seattle, the Hope & Heroes Fund at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital NewYork-Presbyterian, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C and The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore.