SEATTLE — The Hyundai Hometown Hero is someone who makes a positive impact on our local communities, and this year’s hero will be awarded a brand new Hyundai Sante Fe.
Last year's winner, Terra Mangum, is grateful for the recognition and new car she got last year as the 2023 Hyundai Hometown Hero.
“It has been just a whirlwind of a year,” she said. “I have patients coming in and asking me about the car and people in the community who recognize me from the show now. I’m just this small part of a community of women who are cultivating compassion and kindness in our little town.”
The nominees for this year’s Hometown Hero award have been narrowed down to five deserving individuals.
“All of them do incredible things for the community, and I’m very excited to highlight them,” said Hyundai dealer Jim Walen.
Mike Kersey is the co-founder of Courage to Change, an outreach organization dedicated to getting addicts to treatment and providing stable housing when they are clean. He drives more than 5,000 miles a month getting people to doctor appointments, detox and treatment services across several counties.
Ryan Lopez is a teacher dedicated to making a positive impact. He takes great pride in providing a welcoming classroom environment and uses curriculum to create activities/experiments that provide a lesson on the topic in an interactive, relevant way.
Linda Pendergraft is using her husband’s truck right now to deliver food seven days a week late into the night. She works at a college and is the head of Fallen Brothers, an organization that gets food from many stores in the Pacific Northwest and distributes it to the community.
Marranda Brown works as a care coordinator providing intensive support and services for youth and families. She is the children's advocate, care support, crisis response and resource finder in a community-based model and often drives hours out of her way to deliver food, household items and support to families.
Renee Cox is a field supervisor for the Regional Crisis Response Agency and has taught more than 5,000 police recruits how to try to avoid using lethal force on someone experiencing a behavioral health crisis. On New Year’s Eve, she talked with a suicidal man and helped save his life.
You can vote for one of these five nominees until May 27 here on the King 5 website.
“Just seeing people helping their neighbors, helping their community, making those small differences and changing the life trajectory for so many people around them, it’s amazing,” Mangum said.
This program is impactful for the Western Washington Hyundai Dealers who are sponsoring the award.
“It’s so important to be a part of the community, and the Western Washington Hyundai Dealers are doing our small part that we can to actually provide transportation to someone that does such good work in our community,” Walen said.
Vote now for your Hometown Hero. You can also learn more about the Santa Fe on the Hyundai website.
Sponsored by Western Washington Hyundai Dealers
Segment Producer Joseph Suttner. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.