Young People Transform Their Ideas Into Action by Taking On "The Hunt" with DoSomething.org and Toyota

NEW YORK, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time ever, DoSomething.org, the largest not-for-profit for young people and social change, turned to its members, aged 13-25, for their ideas on how to tackle different social issues. From August 4 to August 10, the DoSomething.org community in partnership with Toyota will take on these campaigns in "The Hunt."

Seven creative social change campaign idea finalists were selected from DoSomething.org members – including YouTube stars Scott Hoying and Mitch Grassi of the popular a capella group "Superfruit" and singer Max Schneider.  DoSomething.org members will activate their one-day campaigns in local communities across seven cause spaces including the environment, education, and physical and mental health.  Because text messages have a whopping 97% open rate, these crowd-sourced actions will be sent directly to participants cell phones.

Among the young DoSomething.org member finalists are:

• Scott Hoying and Mitch Grassi, 22 and 21 years old, Los Angeles, California
• Alanna Wall, 14 years old, Dayton, Ohio
• Ethan Woodfill, 14 years old, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Jenna Robar, 18 years old, Nova Scotia, Canada,
• Joslynn Nyree, 18 years old, Sandy, Oregon
• Max Schneider, 22 years old, New York, New York
• Kyra Seeley, 17 years old, Middlesex, New Jersey

"The best ideas aren't always in the room," said Aria Finger, Chief Operating Officer at DoSomething.org. "This is the first time we've opened our platform to our members to share their social change campaign ideas. Since DoSomething.org is the largest organization for young people and social change, the Hunt gives young people the opportunity to elevate their ideas on a national scale."

To show his support for young people making social change in their communities, actor Nathan Kress of iCarly and the upcoming film Into the Storm recorded a public service announcement as a "Super-ish" character to encourage others to join the campaign.

"Being a part of a generation that has the opportunity to use digital tools to fight apathy is awesome," said Kress. "I'm excited to partner with DoSomething.org to encourage young people to take action around the seven different causes."

"Toyota is proud to support DoSomething.org's first ever crowd-sourced campaign, because we believe that when good ideas are shared, great things happen," said Latondra Newton, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer Toyota Motor North America. "We are inspired by the creativity shown by DoSomething members, the breadth, originality and fun of the campaign ideas themselves, and how much potential they have to impact their communities."

Toyota is rewarding two lucky young people who participate in The Hunt each with a $10,000 college scholarship and one lucky winner will receive a chauffeured concert experience for three.

For more information, visit DoSomething.org/hunt or text HUNT to 38383.

To view the PSA, visit http://youtu.be/-G88yaK4mJQ

About DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org makes the world suck less. The largest org for young people and social change, our 2.5 million members tackle campaigns that impact every cause, from poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything else. Any cause, anytime, anywhere. *mic drop*

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants and directly employ more than 40,000 people. Our 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks in 2013 - and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.  

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company's extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. To date, Toyota has contributed more than $700 million  to nonprofits in the U.S.  For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com/usa.

SOURCE DoSomething.org