Native American and environmental non profit could be awarded new vehicle

On June 2, 2012, the southern California based non profit Redbird will have a chance to get a new vehicle, something the small but active non profit group cannot do with their own funds. They are asking all of their friends and supporters to vote for Redbird on June 2 in Toyota's 100 Cars For Good program.

Toyota's Facebook page, 100 Cars For Good, is where the voting takes place. The day supporters can vote for Redbird is June 2, between 7AM and 8:59 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Toyota is giving away 100 vehicles to 100 deserving chairites in the United States, and the winners are being chosen by popular vote on Facebook.

Each of the 500 finanalist non profit organizations has just one day - thirteen hours and fifty nine minutes - to garner the most votes and win a new Toyota. Five organizations compete each day.

Redbird has been entirely without a vehicle since December 2011, which has impaired their ability to carry out the Forest Recovery Project, participate in cultural gatherings, receive and deliver supplies, participate in educational programs and care for their property in the Angeles National Forest.

Redbird hosts the annual Children of Many Colors Powwow in Moorpark, California; the annual Blanket, Toy and School Supplies Drive benefitting the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and created and continues to present the Forest Recovery Project, improving our understanding of fire ecology and supporting safety for first responders. The organization recently acquired a property from La Canada Unified School District, in the Angeles National Forest, which will be a cultural and environmental center and "outdoor classroom" available to the Native American and non native community. Redbird also attends gatherings throughout the year promoting cultural awareness, and works with individuals one on one to help match needs with resources and cultural knowledge with the desire to learn it.

The Forest Recovery Project, which documents the natural recovery of the Angeles National Forest from the Station Fire, has lead to the discovery of symbiotic plant relationships between fire followers and conifer species. Redbird has prepared a report outlining these observations in the hopes that the potential significance is not lost in the rush to do "reforestation", and so that the forest can be utilized as the soure of knowledge and understanding that it is. Currenty, the very plants that appear to be protecting and aiding the regeneration of new conifer seedlings are being cut down to make way for hand planted seedlings. Redbird believes developing a more thorough understanding of the relationships between these plants is a better practice than destroying them.

Redbird was chosen by Toyota, along with 499 other groups, from a pool of over 5,000 applicants to compete in this innovative charitable program that uses social media to determine what causes and which organizations receive a new vehicle.

Anyone with a Facebook account can vote by going to the 100 Cars For Good page. Facebook account holders can look up Redbird, watch a two minute video by Redbird founder Corina Roberts explaining why Redbird needs a vehicle, and send themselves a reminder notice to vote on June 2.