Helping Others Make an Even Greater Impact

Toyota awards new 2015 Camry to Community Leader at NCLR’s Annual Conference in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (July 16, 2015) – Ruby Azurdia-Lee was already making a difference in her community, working with Latino families and connecting them to the resources they need, including health, employment and education services. Now, with the help of Toyota, she is taking it one step further.

Lee entered the Toyota Let’s Go Places contest at this year’s National Council of La Raza (NCLR) annual conference, answering the question: “What would you do with a new Toyota Camry?” Her response: help more people.

Lee is the President of CLUES (Spanish for: Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio), which is a linguistically and culturally relevant resource and service nonprofit organization based in Minnesota. CLUES was founded in 1981 by Latinos for Latinos and its programs and services connect families to resources, skills, institutions, and systems and create an environment for people to be engaged and empowered.

“Miracles do happen. When I entered this contest, I couldn’t imagine that I would win,” said Lee. “My work with CLUES means so much to me and I can’t wait to get back to it and take it to the next level. Thank you, Toyota, for this incredible opportunity.”

The NCLR conference, which ran from July 11 to July 14 in Kansas City, is the nation’s largest gathering of influential individuals, organizations, institutions and companies working with the Hispanic community. Toyota was once again the title sponsor for this year’s event, celebrating more than ten years as the No. 1 auto choice for U.S. Latinos.

“Our partnership with NCLR and the Latino community is long and incredibly valuable to us,” said Steven Curtis, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Toyota Motor Sales. “It’s an honor to be a part of NCLR’s annual conference again this year and to have the chance to give back, especially to someone like Ruby, who is committed to making a difference in her community.”

“Toyota has been a wonderful and committed partner of NCLR for more than 15 years,” says Enrique A. Chaurand, Deputy Vice President of Integrated Marketing and Events at NCLR. “Hearing Ruby’s story was truly inspirational. Thank you, Toyota, for making this another great year at NCLR.”

In addition to giving away a new Camry at the conference, Toyota also showcased and offered “ride and drives” in its most popular vehicles, hosted car seat demonstrations, gave away car seats and more.

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About Toyota’s commitment to the Latino Community

Since 1991, Toyota has contributed more than $700 million to American nonprofit groups; a significant portion of it going to organizations that support minority populations, including Hispanics.

Toyota supports and partners with premier Hispanic organizations that promote the advancement of the Latino community in the United States through education and civic engagement including:

National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI)
Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)
Latinos in Tech Innovation & Social Media (LATISM)

Toyota is also proud to offer programs that keep families safe on the road, like the groundbreaking injury prevention initiative “Buckle Up for Life” or “Abróchate a la Vida” where parents, grandparents and even kids learn about the importance of seat belts and the safest ways to use car seats.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world’s top automaker and creator of the Prius and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 42,000 people (more than 33,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.67 million cars and trucks (more than 2.35 million in the U.S.) in 2014 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.

About NCLR

NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

Javier Moreno, Toyota
(469) 292-1027
[email protected]