To celebrate their 125^th anniversary and honor local, grass-roots organizations, Mercedes-Benz USA has just launched their first-ever "Community Stars" social media challenge That's right, rather than honor their many successes over the past century and a quarter, they've decided to give back and celebrate some of our countries unsung heroes.

Launched on their Facebook site in September 2011, the "Community Stars" challenge called for interested community-service groups to upload sixty second explanatory videos. By the time the contest deadlines had arrived, over 183 applications had been submitted! How did Mercedes-Benz determine the final five? They enlisted the aid of Facebook fans to choose winners in such categories as youth empowerment, the arts, human services, the environment, and education.

The contest officially concluded on October 21, 2011, and the five winners were announced on November 8, 2011.The winners of the contest were as follows: Alabama Institute for the Deaf & Blind (Talladega, Ala.) which provides blind, deaf, and multi-disabled children and adults education and rehabilitation, Camp Okizu (Novato, Calif.) which provides overnight camping programs for children affected by cancer and their families, The Children's Museum of Richmond (Richmond, Va.) which will invest in their  new "Waterplay" exhibit that will join several permanent displays that influence children's social, emotional, and physical development, V.A.C.C. Camp (Miami, Fla.)  which partners with the Miami Children's Hospital to host cost-free camps for children who have disorders that incur troubled breathing and their families, and Sleepyhead Beds (Kansas City, Mo.) which donates used/like-new mattresses to children who would otherwise sleep in vehicles, on floors, on sofas, etc. and helps to protect the environment by keeping these mattresses out of landfills. Mercedes-Benz awarded each $25,000.

Interested in learning more about Mercedes-Benz? Stay tuned. Mercedes-Benz of Fairfield is dedicated to keeping you informed on everything from the company's philanthropic efforts to new Mercedes-Benz launches.  To explore our entire new and used car inventories in person, visit us in Fairfield, CA, today.