Toyota and Amy Purdy Help Wounded Vets Excel at Snowboarding
You may or may not have heard, but sports are good for you. Playing sports helps keep you healthy, sociable, and happy. But sometimes, finding the right sport for you can be a challenge. Not for Amy Purdy. The Paralympian snowboarder took up the sport just seven months after a double amputation of the legs at age 19, and is now encouraging other disabled children, young adults, and veterans to take up the sport via her Adaptive Action Sports (AAS) organization, of which Toyota is a proud supporter.
Toyota and Amy Purdy have enjoyed a partnership since 2012, when the athlete joined Team Toyota along with 18 other skilled snowboarders. At the recent Paralympic Games, she earned the bronze medal, and she also recently took part in the television show Dancing With the Stars, where she and her partner, dancer and choreographer Derek Hough, took second place.
Toyota has been a supporter of AAS for a number of years, and is now expanding that support to allow AAS to host a total of 10 competitive para-snowboard events for wounded veterans between now and the end of 2015. Toyota engagement marketing corporate manager, Keith Dahl, commented, “At Toyota, we believe in the spirit of adventure, innovation and going places, and enjoy collaborating with partners that feel the same way. Adaptive Action Sports embodies a similar spirit and serves as a great example of an organization that is helping others go places they haven’t been before.”
Previously, Toyota has donated an accessible Sienna minivan to the organization to help transport competitors to and from AAS’s Colorado training facility. The expanded partnership will allow Toyota and Amy Purdy to offer more services and opportunities to veterans through AAS.
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