FARMINGTON- A talk by someone who has worked in the auto industry and started a non-profit organization to help people who need to purchase an affordable vehicle will be held Thursday at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The campus speaker series, Common Ground, will feature a presentation by Robert Chambers, founder of Bonnie CLAC$a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people in need purchase affordable vehicles$at 11:45 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 30, in the North Dining Hall in the student center.

Founded in New Hampshire in 2001by Chambers and Leo Hamill, Bonnie CLAC (Car Loans and Counseling) is dedicated to helping people with low to moderate incomes purchase affordable, reliable, fuel-efficient vehicles to improve their lives.

After having worked in auto sales himself, Chambers observed that many customers are pressured into inadvisable vehicle purchases by some sellers with inaccurate and insufficient financial information. Many of these transactions result in the purchasers paying higher monthly payments for less reliable, high-mileage, older cars than they would for a new car at a lower interest rate.

Bonnie CLAC was created to guide people in need through the car-buying process, to help them purchase new cars, financed at a low rate of interest. The only nonprofit car organization that uses a comprehensive program to help consumers establish positive credit ratings, Bonnie CLAC provides its clients with financial counseling, temporary transportation and access to loans at wholesale interest rates.

Over 100 social service agencies have referred clients to this non-profit organization. Bonnie CLAC has received two prestigious national awards$the 2007 Manhattan Institute Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the Civic Ventures 2006 Purpose Prize for Social Innovation$as well as the New Hampshire Women's Lobby 2008 Citizen Award for Making a Difference for New Hampshire's Women and Children.

For more information on Bonnie CLAC, visit their website at http://www.bonnieclac.org/.

For more information, please contact Frank Engert, UMF Professor of Business and Social Enterprise, at 207-778-7412, or engert@maine.edu.

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