GINNY COOPER / Staff writer

 

HOOVER—Hoover Toyota is well accustomed to handing over car keys, but usually other people are giving them the money. Jan. 22, however, the tables turned. Hoover Toyota gave a brand new Toyota Tundra and a $2,000 check to Adaptive Aquatics, a local non-profit dedicated to the introduction, teaching and advancement of adapted watersports for the disabled.

This giveaway was part of  Toyota’s “100 Cars for Good” program. Toyota gave away 100 new vehicles to nonprofits across the country. The nonprofits were chosen through the number of votes they received on Facebook.

Gordie Stewart, owner and general manager of Hoover Toyota, said that Hoover Toyota was “very blessed to have a winner in the Hoover area” and that Adaptive Aquatics was an organization “close to our hearts.”

Joe Ray, executive director of Adaptive Aquatics, was disabled as a young man in an automobile accident and learned how to water ski through Adaptive Aquatics. Ray said that the experience of being able to take part in watersports through Adaptive Aquatics is life changing for many of the participants.

“I know,” Ray said, “because I’m one of those (people).”

Adaptive Aquatics, which currently runs a facility on Lay Lake in Shelby County, is planning take the program all over the state with the new vehicle.

“We are humbled and grateful to Toyota,” Ray said.