Car Safety and Education ... Thank you!

I felt safe in my 2002 Ford Explorer (loved her).

My Ford Experience

In 2002, when we were expecting our son, my husband and I agreed that I needed a vehicle that was safe to drive through snow and ice. Three years had passed since I'd experienced my first New England snow storm. I'd moved from Southern California and knew nothing of salt melting ice on the roads, that snowplows tore mailboxes from their posts, or how people managed to get-to-and-from work in extreme weather conditions. Heck, I was used to the Santa Ana winds, rain, flooding, mud-slides, fires, earthquakes, the Night Stalker, even ... but snow and ice? Nuh-uh. I remember on the news, watching drivers abandon their vehicles on the highway and thinking to myself, "There's-no-freaking way-I'll-survive."

Well, I did. I adapted to my new environment, fell in love with the seasons, but, still, never felt safe driving in the wintertime. This is the reason my husband and I visited our neighborhood Ford dealership. I was seven months pregnant and wanted something super-safe: an Explorer. The next best-thing for me on the safety-scale, at the time, would've been a Suburban with bullet-proof windows. I kid you not. I've calmed down a little, since. ... really.

Why a Ford? My parents and husband had driven Fords. When I was a kid, my parents purchased a previously-owned pea-green 1976 Mustang that they later handed down to my middle sister (who soon drove it into a tree, she was okay). Years later, my mom bought a Focus that she handed down to my sister (same one, both are doing fine : ). Then there were the four company cars my husband drove, over the years, since we were married, all Fords.

Source: www.oldcarbrochures.com

My Ford loved flooded and snowy conditions. | Mi mama cleans-off her Ford Focus. : )

So imagine my surprise when I learned that had it not been for Ford Latino's generosity, I might not have been able to attend last month's #Latism11 conference, in Chicago. Had I known this when I first met Fernando and Jesus from Ford Latino, I would've given them each a huge hug and said, "Gracias, por todo."

In hindsight, gentlemen, thank you for not only for making it feasible for me to attend #Latism11, but for your commitment to Latinos and education, something I learned about doing my own little investigation.

Commitment to Latinos and Education

For example, did you know that in the first nine months of 2011, Ford Motor donated more than $1.8 million to schools through their Drive One 4 UR School Program? Or that they're the first car company to partner with General Mills' Box Tops for Education Program to help raise funds for schools?

I'm beyond proud to have been sponsored by a company that has shown their commitment, not only to safety, but to education and to helping Latinos youths through programs such as Ford Driving Dreams Through Education, their partnership with the Hispanic College Fund that assists Latino college graduates transition to from school to careers, and the new Ford Capital Grant Program that awards $400,000 in grant money to programs in "education, automative safety, community needs and the arts."

FORD Driving Dreams Program

FORD Partners with Hispanic College Fund

¿Qué mas puedo decir? Truth is that had it not been for programs such as these, I might have not been able to fund my college education.

Ford and Ford Latino, gracias and keep up the awesome work.

To learn more about Ford in English, or to check out the new Escape (one of my hub's next company car choices :), click here, or if you speak Spanish/Spanglish, please show your support and "like" the Ford en Español FB page.

Besos y abrazos for the rear-sensors!