Monthly Archives: July 2011

Travis Manion Foundation

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By Janet Manion

Before leaving for his last tour in Iraq in late 2006, my son U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion spent a day with Rescue One in New York City — the first responder team that lost nearly all its men on 9/11. After a day of sharing stories from that tragic day, Travis came home even more inspired to serve our country. He gave his father a Rescue One baseball cap embroidered with the words “9/11 Never Forget” and asked him to wear it while he was gone. Travis told him, “Remember, this is what we’re fighting for.”

Less than four months later, Travis was tragically killed by enemy fire in Fallujah. After his death, our family vowed to never let Americans forget the sacrifice of so many on 9/11 and since. We have done so by creating the Travis Manion Foundation and the 9/11 Heroes Run in our son’s honor. The mission of our foundation is to assist our nation’s military community and the families of fallen heroes.

Our goal to grow the 9/11 Heroes Run nationwide, to allow Americans community by community to run, volunteer, donate, cheer, but most of all honor and remember the men and women who serve and protect us every day is becoming a reality thanks to the great people at the General Motors Foundation and at Chevrolet who are committed to the American values demonstrated by our men and women in uniform.

As our country nears the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, today, General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson announced a donation of $250,000 to the Travis Manion Foundation on behalf of the General Motors Foundation and Chevrolet to support the 2011 9/11 Heroes Run. This year’s Run consists of more than 25 races in cities and towns across the United States plus races in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guam and ships at sea. All proceeds benefit our nation’s veterans and military families.

We hope people from across the country will participate in the 9/11 Heroes Run this year to honor, remember and draw strength from the examples of service that so many of these American heroes demonstrated.

To learn more about the 9/11 Heroes run and to register for a race near you, please visit: www.911heroesrun.com.

The Countdown to Chevrolet’s Centennial Begins

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By Russ Clark
Director, Performance, Mid-Cars, and Crossover Utility Vehicles

Today marks the 100-day countdown to Chevrolet’s centennial, an important milestone which we’ll celebrate on November 3. Along the way we’ll commemorate what these 100 years of heritage have meant to our customers, enthusiasts, and fans around the world by featuring the stories and vehicles that made Chevrolet a globally recognized name. We’ll also see where Chevrolet is headed. As one of largest and fastest growing automotive brands in the world, our celebration includes a look at Chevrolet’s next 100 years.

Founded in 1911 by racer Louis Chevrolet and industrialist Billy Durant, Chevrolet has continued to represent a youthful, pioneering spirit, confidently expressive design, and uncompromising durability. You can see these qualities in our award-winning Cruze and the industry-changing Volt, and in our global vehicles like Sonic. Just how many Chevrolets have we sold in our 100 years? More than 200 million.

As we begin our celebration, we hope you’ll join us. You can stay up to date on activities and news on Chevy 100. For Chevrolet fans and owners, this is a wonderful resource to enjoy and explore our heritage. You’ll find photos, similar to the ones you see here in this post, events, and even an exclusive Pandora playlist with more than 100 songs featuring Chevy in the lyrics. From Bob Seger’s “Night Moves” to Billy Joel’s “Moving Out,” there’s something for everyone.

If you’re looking to write your own story about Chevrolet, visit our Chevrolet media site for assets or the Chevy Facebook page to tell your story.

Thank you for continuing to support Chevrolet – this celebration belongs to the friends, fans, dealers, and enthusiasts who’ve contributed to the journey.

Inside GM’s Rapid Prototyping Lab

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Earlier this month, GM offered our video cameras exclusive access inside the Rapid Prototyping Lab. Security clearance is required inside this special area where these technicians work with two fabrication processes – selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereo lithography apparatus (SLA). The work inside this lab helps GM designers, engineers and aerodynamicists move their projects to the next level.

Today we offer our readers the next video in the series here on Fastlane. As you’ll see in the video, the prototype parts the technicians create in the lab are used to help further test vehicles before they hit the road.

Over on Voltage: Plug-In 2011

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Rob Peterson, Chevrolet Volt Communications, checks in on Voltage today with a recap from this week’s Plug-In 2011 Conference in North Carolina. Rob offers up a few more pictures for the conference as well as some additional reading, so make sure to take a look.

It was an exciting week for the General Motors and Chevrolet Volt team at Plug-In 2011 in North Carolina, an electric vehicle conference where  industry leaders met to discuss electric vehicles, the readiness plans for market introduction and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Not surprisingly, members of the Volt team were front and center in these discussions participating on panels that ranged from grid and charging to marketplace readiness and the future of electric vehicle propulsion systems – and we made some news as well. More

 

Buick Supports the Nation’s Future

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By Tony DiSalle, U.S. Vice President, Buick Marketing

As a company committed to inspiring, encouraging and enabling Human Achievement, Buick and the GM Foundation are proud to announce the 1,100 recipients of the Buick Achiever Scholarship program. As we announced in February, this program provides 100 outstanding students from across the United States a scholarship of up to $25,000, and 1,000 students with a scholarship of up to $2,000, both renewable for four years (five for engineering programs).

The availability of Buick Achievers Scholarship funds is expected to make a significant difference in these students’ lives. The high-dollar value and renewability of the awards will provide recipients with a tremendous benefit throughout their college careers and help ensure they reach their potential. In fact, for more than 43 percent of the recipients, they will be the first member of their family to attend college.

Many of the scholarship recipients have declared majors in chemical, environmental, electrical, mechanical and manufacturing engineering as well as business administration, accounting, finance, mathematics, graphic design and marketing.

One such example is Oliver Brown, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Family savings were depleted to rebuild, leaving no money for college. Because of the Buick Achiever’s National Scholarship, he now can attend the University of Texas, Austin, to study engineering. He says that scholarship validates the choices he made to prioritize education and give back to the community.

Many of our scholarship recipients have overcome significant hurdles en route to college and it is gratifying to know that, through the Buick Achievers Scholarship program, we are able to help them pursue their dreams.

As the nation’s fastest growing automotive brand, and a company committed to being a part of the community, we believe it’s our responsibility to encourage today’s brightest young minds to pursue fields of study that will prepare them for careers in the 21st century – improving our nation’s global competitiveness in fields that are driving economic growth. The Buick Achievers Scholarship Program is one of the largest in the country. In fact, the foundation’s annual funding could reach $18 million annually after four years.

Visit Buick’s Facebook page to see the entire list of 2011 scholarship recipients Applications for the 2012-13 Buick Achievers Scholarship program will be accepted in the spring of 2012.

I strongly encourage students to register online to be notified when the application process begins.