Nissan Helps Make One Family's Dreams Come True
What do you get when you combine a popular automaker, a nonprofit organization and football players, past and present? Well, for one deserving family of five, the answer is a new home in Central City, New Orleans.
Confused by what we mean? Allow Jackie Cooper Nissan to explain.
You see, Japanese automaker, Nissan, provides sponsorship for the Heisman Trust, which annually recognizes a standout College football player with the Heisman Memorial Trophy and inducts the winners from the last 30 years into the fraternal "Heisman House." (You may recall a series of Nissan ads by the same name, featuring various players living together in a reality-type show house).
And, in addition to its Heisman affiliation, Nissan also has a philanthropic connection with the Habitat for Humanity, a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization which has been devoted to providing decent, affordable housing for the underprivileged, since 1976.
Working together with the Heisman Trust and Habitat (both national and New Orleans chapters), Nissan has recruited former trophy winners such as Johnny Rodgers, Danny Wuerffel, Mark Ingram and others, to build a three-bedroom home for hardworking longshoreman, Aldon Lightfoot, Kimberly Jones, their three children and the one on the way.
Nissan first started its collaboration with Habitat for Humanity back in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita left countless people without homes. Since then, Nissan has donated more than $9 million to the organization, building 62 homes, donating 111 vehicles and encouraging all stakeholders to lend support, as well.
"We are grateful for Nissan's long-time support in helping to make affordable housing possible and for extending an opportunity for the Heisman Trophy Trust and athletes to get involved in our work," says Kymberly Wolff, senior vice president of Development, Habitat for Humanity International. "We look forward to continuing to partner together to help families fulfill their dreams of home ownership."1
We too are looking forward to future endeavors between Nissan and Habitat for Humanity, and for the chance to share them with our Tulsa, Oklahoma readers here on the Jackie Cooper Nissan blog. To stay up to date with these stories, as well as others, we invite you to subscribe using your RSS feed.