With four months to go until the Rebelle Rally, a 10-day women’s off-road navigation rally traversing the California and Nevada deserts, Rebelle Rally Team #146 “Team Ponderosa,” has announced the honorary sponsorship of Athena Racing to raise awareness of their STEM education nonprofit.

Athena Racing just wrapped their inaugural e-learning summer fabrication FABcamp and is eager to announce the Drive-a-Thon fundraiser event that will assist in providing online programs for female students in middle and high school free of charge.

During this women-only off-road navigation rally, Team Ponderosa will lead a fundraising effort with the goal of raising $10,000 to directly benefit Athena Racing’s 501c3 non-profit mission, with proceeds earmarked for creating robust online programs offered completely free to participants. The Drive-a-Thon will raise money via commitments made per mile driven and checkpoint crossed that Team Ponderosa achieves during the rally.

The seed for the partnership was planted in February 2020 after Team Ponderosa navigator Sara Swenson met Athena Racing founder Loxley Browne at a networking event in San Diego. Coincidentally, it was at the CxO Forum hosted by Athena, a women’s STEM advocacy organization in San Diego – two separate, local organizations — Athena and Athena Racing – that share the name Athena and the spirit of wisdom, courage, inspiration, strength, and skill.

“We’re very thrilled to see Athena Racing, a local organization, doing so much for promoting young women in motorsports, and in all areas of STEM education and skill development,” said Team Ponderosa driver Erin Vogel. “It’s incredibly exciting to be able to partner with them and provide yet another aspect of technical education that I’m sure many women in our generation wish they’d been able to access.”