Last year, Toyota launched a first-of-its-kind program offering monetary support and sponsorship opportunities to all eligible U.S. Paralympic athletes. The Toyota U.S. Paralympic Fund directly impacts the lives of eligible U.S. Paralympic athletes who trained to compete at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. To date, more than 430 U.S. Paralympic athletes and hopefuls have received direct support from the Toyota U.S. Paralympic Fund – which has received over $5 million in contributions.
Paralympic sports can often be prohibitively expensive, because to compete at an elite level, expensive adaptive equipment is sometimes necessary. Track Para-cyclist and donation recipient Chris Murphy says it allowed him to concentrate on the competition ahead.
“The [donation] went a long way to reduce stress in the lead-up to the Games in Tokyo,” Murphy says. “My sport is quite expensive. The [donation] meant I could focus on what I needed to do to prepare, rather than worry about how I could afford to do what I needed to do.”
In addition to the Toyota U.S. Paralympic Fund donations, the automaker is offering sponsorship opportunities to athletes named to the U.S. Paralympic Team for both the Tokyo and Beijing Games. More than 200 U.S. Paralympians have accepted a sponsorship to join the growing Team Toyota family.
