In 1998, a group of New England-area Hyundai dealers launched a local initiative to raise funds to support pediatric cancer through the Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. What started as a small contribution in a local market has evolved into Hyundai Hope On Wheels®, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Hope On Wheels is the united effort of Hyundai Motor America and its more than 800 dealers across the U.S. to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to celebrate the lives of the children battling the disease.

Every time a new Hyundai vehicle is sold in the U.S., Hyundai customers join Hyundai and its dealers in funding important life-saving research through the organization's signature Hyundai Scholar Grant and Hyundai Hope Grant programs. Since its inception 14 years ago, Hope On Wheels has donated more than $45 million to pediatric cancer research at institutions nationwide, and by year-end 2012 will have committed more than $57 million.

The Hope On Wheels Scholar Grant program began in 2006 and each year visits children's hospitals across the U.S. to donate funds and raise awareness for childhood cancer research. All stops during this program include a Hope On Wheels "Handprint Ceremony," the program's signature event which celebrates the lives of the brave children battling the disease by capturing their colorful handprints on a white Hyundai Tucson, the official 2012 program vehicle.

Why handprints? Because there's nothing more personal than a handprint ? and part of the Hope On Wheels' mission is to Read More ..