When Savannah resident Audrey Moscosa-Rodriguez made arrangements to attend the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in Los Angeles this summer, she anticipated three days of important networking opportunities.
She had no idea she was about to experience one of the luckiest days of her life.
The NCLR is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organizations in the United States, and its annual conference is the nation’s largest gathering of influential individuals, organizations, institutions and companies working within the Hispanic community.
This summer, as the title sponsor of the conference, Toyota donated a new Prius as the grand prize in a special promotion that required participants to answer the question: “Where would you go in the new Prius Four and why?” in 25-words or less.
After deliberating several hours, contest judges invited five finalists to a breakfast brunch where Moscosa-Rodriguez’ response was chosen as the grand-prize winner.
“I was jumping up and down screaming when they called my hotel room and told me I was a finalist,” she said. “I have never won anything in my life. I’m an optimistic person who is just happy to have a wonderful family. That, in itself, is the biggest gift ever. But winning this Prius was just incredible.”
Moscosa-Rodriguez, who is bilingual and a native of Venezuela, is youth development director at the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. Her work with the Hispanic Family Initiative is focused on learning readiness and after-school programs for Latino children living in the Coastal YMCA’s five-county service area.
Her winning response cited her responsibilities with the YMCA.
“I wrote that I would use a new car to provide transportation for some of my YMCA Achievers students who are not able to attend our college and career-readiness meetings because of transportation issues,” she said.
Toyota spokesman Bill Fay said the company is “proud and grateful” to its Latino customers.
“We have been a proud partner of NCLR for 15 years and are thrilled to support the important work that NCLR does to expand civic engagement and foster critical conversations across the Latino community,” Fay said.