Ron Badyna of Lambertville was up and running early to make sure his car got a good spot at a General Motors employee car show Sunday at GM’s Oscar Bunch Park in West Toledo.
But showing his car wasn’t the only reason he was there. It was also to support a GM – Toledo Propulsion Systems’ charitable investment in the local community, particularly to nonprofits involved in children’s education, said Mr. Badyna, one of at least 300 people showing vintage cars at an event used by the benefactor to announce giving away $100,000 in grants to seven Toledo-area nonprofits.
“Just look at the way the world is today,” said the Purple Heart-decorated Vietnam War veteran who was showing a 1966 Corvette Coup. “Kids, as you see in the news, aren’t getting the proper education. A lot of these kids come from poor families, poor homes. They need a little bit of outside help.”
The beneficiaries and the funds they are receiving are as follows:
- University of Toledo Foundation, $30,000
- NAACP of Toledo, $13,000
- Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, $12,000
- Toledo Science Center – Imagination Station, $11,000
- Learning Club of Toledo, $11,000
- Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Northwest Ohio, $10,000
- The Nature Conservancy $13,000