The "Voyager Cares" program by Voyager RV Centre has gained momentum in 2023, having already donated more than $30,000 to support local charities. Launched in late 2022, the initiative aims to raise more than $100,000 for community organizations by the end of this year. The initial donations, which totaled $13,200 for the Central Okanagan Food Bank and $18,750 for the Canadian Mental Health Association, surpassed expectations and indicate that the dealership is on track to surpass its fundraising objective.
“Despite some headwinds in our industry, we thought it was important to bring back Voyager Cares for this year.” explains Voyager RV Vice President Jason Friesen, “For me it’s simple - there has to be more to this business than sales and servicing of RVs. While that’s important and will always be our focus, helping our community has to be just as important.”
Every Voyager RV employee got to vote for their favorite charities, ones that hit close to home for them. The Top 8 vote-getters were then selected as the recipients for 2023, with each charity being assigned a certain month (or months) where they will benefit. Then for every RV sold during that time period, each Voyager RV department commits to making a donation to that charity.
“It’s a simple concept, but it works really great because the staff here are a huge part of it all.” continues Friesen, “they picked the charities, and their hard work finding, selling, servicing and cleaning the RVs each month is what leads to these big donation amounts. Plus we bring reps from each charity here for the cheque presentations, so that our staff can learn about what the donations mean to the charity and our community. It’s a pretty cool experience.”
During her presentation on February 22nd, RayAnn Garza of the Central Okanagan Food Bank said they provide food assistance to over 4,000 individuals in the Okanagan on a monthly basis, and that the donation they received from Voyager was very timely. “I just want to thank every single one of you at Voyager who made this possible!” Garza stated, “Right now are serving double the amount of people than pre-Covid, an average of over 6000 people in the community… so this (donation) is beyond our wildest dreams. With our buying power purchasing food on a wholesale level, this is like a $40,000 donation from Voyager RV in terms of what we can purchase for the community.”
The cheque presentation to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) was made on April 13th. Founded in 1918, the CMHA is the most established and extensive community mental health organization in Canada. Sarah Wallace, the Events & Development Specialist for CHMA Kelowna talked about what this $18,750 donation means to their organization. “This is extra special because you all chose us.” Wallace said to the Voyager staff, “this helps the over 300 people that we house, our outreach services team that help support the unhoused population in the community, the discovery college programs, youth population, and just the thousands and thousands of families that we support here in the Okanagan. Thank you!”
Locally owned and operated, Voyager RV has always been a big supporter of the community, but Friesen says that it’s important to not get complacent. “I know that I am so lucky to get to do what I do”, he explains, “and our staff of almost 70 all feel fortunate to have stable, full-time jobs here as well. So we have to make sure to do our part and give back.”
The next beneficiary of Voyager Cares, based on RVs sold during the month of April, is the Kelowna Hospice House.