Texas ’Hero’ Receives 2010 Ford F-150 And $250,000 As Winner Of Ford, ABC Community Event

* Gordon Nelms, of Mount Pleasant, Texas, will receive a 2010 Ford F-150 and $250,000 this week as winner of the Ford Motor Company and ABC “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Heroes F-150 campaign
* The Heroes campaign was designed to find the ultimate community hero; Nelms has been an active member of several charitable organizations in Titus County, Texas for 35 years

DALLAS – Texas native Gordon Nelms will receive the keys to a new 2010 Ford F-150 and a check for $250,000 to improve his community at the Texas State Fair this week as winner of the Ford Motor Company and ABC “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Heroes campaign, which was designed to find the ultimate community hero.

Nelms was chosen among thousands of entries for his charitable work with several Titus County charities, including the Food Pantry, which feeds an average of 800 families each month in and around Mount Pleasant, Texas. Nelms will use his new Ford F-150 and the $250,000 to complete work on a new community center to store food and feed families.

“Ford’s generous donation will provide our organization with the assets needed to help finish construction on one convenient, centralized location where families in need receive assistance,” said Nelms. “We ran out of room at our church where we’ve been storing items for the Food Pantry. Our new facility will now have the storage space to accommodate our supply, and the new F-150 can handle the tough job of hauling food items continuously throughout each month.”

Connie Fontaine, Ford manager, Brand Content and Alliances, says Nelms is the type of hard-working hero Ford envisioned as the winner of the Heroes campaign. “He’s dedicated to helping those in his community,” she said. “He will use the truck and the donation to significantly expand that work.”

Hero with a heart
Nelms has been an active member of the Titus County community since he moved to Mount Pleasant 35 years ago. During last year’s Christmas season, he organized more than 250 bell ringers for the Salvation Army Red Kettle program and helped provide nearly 2,000 children with Christmas gifts through the Empty Stocking program. On an ongoing basis, Nelms distributes 715 backpacks a week to low-income families through the Backpack program.

Nelms was nominated by Michelle Woodruff of Titus County Cares. Woodruff wrote in her entry, “Gordon has a huge heart for the needs of our community. He is literally on call 24/7 for the Police and Fire Departments for the homeless or people stranded in our area. He is constantly picking up people in his own vehicle who are stranded, homeless and in need of safe shelter or a hot meal. Gordon drives an older sedan that is really not large enough to accommodate his needs for the various projects he does. A larger, more reliable vehicle would help out immensely when transporting the large amount of food items.”

Ford’s F-Series truck, America’s best-selling vehicle, posted its second consecutive sales increase in September (up 4 percent). The 2009 F-150 was introduced last fall and was named “North American Truck of the Year,” Motor Trend’s “Truck of the Year” and “Truck of Texas” by the Texas Auto Writers Association. In 2009, F-Series has gained more than 3 points of market share in the full-size truck segment. The all-new Ford-150 SVT Raptor extreme performance truck debuted in August, and this model is flying off dealer lots in an average of nine days. More new Ford trucks are on the way. In September, Ford unveiled the next-generation 2011 Super Duty F-Series at the State Fair of Texas, promising more capability, improved fuel economy and a Ford-designed, engineered and built 6.7-liter diesel engine.

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 201,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.

About ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
The Emmy Award-winning reality program is working on its seventh season on ABC. The program, which airs on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. EST, is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. Anthony Dominici is the executive producer and David Goldberg is Chairman, Endemol North America.