Childhood cancer patients painted colorful handprints on a white Hyundai Santa Fe yesterday morning after Hyundai’s Hope on Wheels donated $40,000 to the UA Steele Children’s Research Center for childhood cancer research.

Brenda Wittman, a researcher at the center, was chosen as a Hyundai scholar for her research in bacterial infection and blood clotting related to central venous catheters.  She said reducing clotting and infection will reduce the amount of time children have to spend in the hospital and improve their quality of life.

After Sam Brnovich, Hyundai’s general manager of the western region, presented a check for $20,000 to the Steele Center, the Hyundai Jim Click family presented another $20,000 check for the research.

Brnovich said he was pleasantly surprised by the amount the Jim Click family donated, especially given the current economic climate.

The Hope on Wheels program was started in Boston in 1998 and became a national program in 2004, Brnovich said.

Dr. Fayez Ghishan, director of the Steele Center, said the support of corporations like Hyundai is very important to their research and to improving the lives of children.

All of the children who participated in putting their handprints on the car got t-shirts and gift bags. The decorated Santa Fe will be traveling around the country before it is auctioned off, Brnovich said.