It Takes a Village | Community Car Donation

Have you been following along with the unique Grand Bend, Ontario community car donation event? It’s spectacular! Here’s an UPDATE:

Something special happened in Ontario this summer: A community car donation event is adding up to giving and giving and giving again!

We’ve been waiting expectantly to provide some updates on the Grand Bend Motorplex / $1000 Challenge Make A Wish Canada! Our agent and their teams have worked diligently to provide free tow support and assessment on multiple vehicles making their way to our program on behalf of the charity.

Those donations are adding up. At the end of the “race”? Thirteen rough n’ ready vehicles are rollin’ through for the children’s charity!

More on that in a minute, but first, a reminder of what the excitement is all about:

Drivin’ laps (so many laps!) for Make a Wish Canada in SW Ontario

Here are all of the goodies about this fabulous fundraiser:

$1000 Challenge Make A Wish Canada Fundraiser

When: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 — 10:00am – 4:00pm

Where: Southwestern Ontario car enthusiasts will gather at Grand Bend Motorplex to run their vehicles on the road course for 4 hours.

Admission: Free!

The challenge

All drivers found and purchases a vehicle for less than $1,000 dollars to drive the course.

Winners were judged on number of laps completed and how they made their vehicle stand out from the pack.

This is community car donation at it’s most elaborate!

How those cars add up to cash for Make a Wish Canada

Once the event was complete, all of the vehicles were picked up by Donate A Car Canada. All proceeds will be donated to Make A Wish Canada. It really does take a village.

And what about you?

The public was encouraged to head out for this community car donation experience and take part in the road course run as well as the car show that happened during the event. A BBQ lunch was provided with all proceeds going to Make A Wish Canada! The Grand Bend Sobeys graciously donated all the food and drinks. The Grand Bend legion provided a BBQ and a generous donation, too!

How Donate a Car Canada is involved

Once the community car donation event was complete, all of the racers donated the race vehicles to Make-A-Wish Canada through our program. We love it when generosity revs up lap after lap like this! Not only were funds raised at the event itself, but the giving continues as we process the actual vehicles.

The way this works: our supporting agent is re-selling and recycling all of these vehicles. The net proceeds from that process will go directly to the charity. Each vehicle donor will receive a tax receipt (via CanadaHelps) for this additional gift.

Do you have a vehicle of your own to donate? The process is simple and quick! Not only that, the tow is always free! Just click the “Donate Now” button on our site and we’ll have you rollin’ for charity in no time.

UPDATE: So? How did it go?

Make A Wish Canada is the happy recipient of a generous bundle of vehicle donations! On top of the funds raised at the actual Grand Bend Motorplex event, we are in process with our supporting agent on 13 vehicles from this community car donation extravaganza:

2002 Ford Cube Van

1998 BMW 328ia


1999 Buick Lesabre
2006 Cadillac CTS
2010 Ford Fusion
2010 Chevrolet Cruze
2003 Volkswagen Beetle
2007 Acura CSX
2009 Ford Focus
2015 Fiat 500
2006 Honda Civic 
2004 Honda Odyssey
1984 Pontiac Firebird

So far? Over $4,000.00 in donations are in the works for Make-A-Wish Canada! That’s a big deal — especially considering that some of these units came out of the race chassis-on-wheels and nothin’ more! Soon, funds will come our way so that all of these gifts can be disbursed to the charity. This may be be complete as early as accounting month-end in September.

Build your own community car donation event!

Not all community car donation events happen on a lap track. Sometimes, a neighbourhood or town is just ready to do a clean-up event. If this is you and your community, give us a call (1-877-250-4904). We can help ensure speedy and efficient vehicle removal of unused/unwanted vehicles. Every individual donor can choose their favourite charity as recipient for their gift. Or, you can come together as a collective and send all gifts to the same charity. Any which way, we are here to assist in ensuring a cheerful, simple, generous donation experience!

We can’t wait to work alongside you and your community!

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Sandra McDonald

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