Donate a Car Canada | Our Team

The crew behind the Donate a Car Canada scenes

There are just five of us working for you here at Donate a Car Canada. Our little crew comes from backgrounds in administration, charity work, and media relations. We have worked in church ministry, care giving, home making, and janitorial roles.  Between us, we have over just under a dozen amazing kiddos. We lovingly nurture all kinds of pets (dogs, cats, turtles, geckos, birds, fish) and any number of strays. Each of us reach into the important world of volunteering in our own ways.

Whether you’re talking with us in person (sharing stories of generosity, loss, or the frustration of a roadside breakdown), or connecting with us by email, we are a team who care very much about you and your personal connection to your gift. You will get to know some of us by name; others will be working diligently in the background to ensure that your charity is set up to receive your gift, and that your gift is disbursed just so!

Taking care of each other first

You know drill: put your own oxygen mask on before you tend the person beside you. That goes for us here at Donate a Car Canada, too.

In order to keep costs low, we all work from home. In fact, we have been a WFH company since the beginning. ‘Over a decade of working scattered across the city. This means taking care of each other needs to be done creatively.

We’ve had two of our key staff go down hard to illness this past year. When our crew mates fell sick, the rest of us felt a little helpless. How do you creatively tend your friend when she is out of reach?

This was really put to the test when our boss was under the weather this winter.

Wishing to support her, and hoping to make her life just a wee bit easier, the team collaborated. The best thing we could do to extend TLC? A care package! Delivered right to her door. ‘Sounds simple enough, right? Not exactly…

No good deed, or, Operation Drop-Off

Once co-workers Kirsten and Cory had tackled the building of the care package, Kirsten and our colleague, Marcia, took on delivery of the bundle of treats and nutritious snacks. The drop-off was enroute to another mini-road-trip destination. It only made sense to do a “quick” stop for our beloved employer!

Kirsten recalls,

“The day started out really well! We got on the road at a reasonable time. We even got to stop for food before heading to our drop-off. The boss warned us through text messages that the roads were terrible. She suggested that maybe we shouldn’t go, but we really wanted to. After all, this was a care package full of love! It needed to get to its people to do its job.

We agreed to just take it easy to get ourselves there and if the roads were bad, we’d turn back. But, honestly, the roads were great! Aside from one weirdly icy turn, the roads were pretty solid the whole way. We made it almost the entire way to our destination!

But, then we missed the last turn. ‘Simple mistake with big consequences because we decided to turn around in a “flat” little driveway that just had a “little” snow. Turns out the driveway was not flat. Nor was it lightly snow covered, Furthermore, it was not in the mood to let us get back on our journey quickly.

We ended up on glare ice and couldn’t get ourselves unstuck. I let our so-ill coworker know where we were and that we were just running a little behind. The next thing we know, our boss’s husband (who was also unwell) was pulling up to try to help us out. Such a sweetheart but he was in no condition to be helping push us out. After a few minutes, he went home to get a tow rope, brought back a hitch strap, and I hooked both vehicles up.

Pulling us out led to a near crash and the breaking of the hitch strap itself, but eventually we were all good! We then agreed that it was probably best to give the care package to the boss’s husband, right then and there, and let him go right back home to bed. Marcia and I made our way back to the main road so that we could head to our next stop. So, it was bonkers but it all worked out! Thankfully everyone was okay and the box ‘o’ love made it to its destination!”

Donate a Car Canada staff…post drop-off

The thing about things (literally!) slipping off the road (Oh, the best laid plans do go awry!)? Once they’ve started in that direction, they tend to continue in that direction.

With their journey of care package delivery partly behind them, you would think Karma would smile kindly on the delivery driver? Nope! Marcia’s adventures were just beginning.

After safely navigating the next leg of their journey, Kirsten and Marcia arrived at their final destination. A warm hotel! Soft beds soon-to-be sunk into. No more icy patches or snow drifts or busted tow ropes. Or so they thought…

Marcia chimes in,

“I pull into the hotel parking lot and what do I see, you ask? My son’s team coach and team manager pushing a little ol’ Honda that is stuck. In the name of kindness and karma I get out of my car and ask if they need help….”

I mean, this crew is built of really good-hearted folks!

I just need to interrupt Marcia for a second: this is a gal who just trekked a care package through ice and snow to give a little comfort to a co-worker. And now she’s pausing on her journey again! That’s how our Donate a Car Canada crew rolls in their off-hours!

But back to Marcia,

“Coach hollers, ‘Sure! We could use another hand pushing!’

So off I go to help push.

I am by the wheel of the car and as we start pushing I get a small ice bath from the slush and melt water spitting up at me! Coach decides to change the strategy and  we all shift to the other side of the car.

We start pushing and feel the car make a move. At this precise moment I know things are gonna go sideways for me. And yes, yes they did. As the car began to shift, having the short wingspan that I do, it slips from my reach! And me? I lose my balance. I slide half under the car into a slush puddle that is up to my waist.  So there I am sitting in slush thinking, ‘Please don’t let this car roll forward onto me!’

The young woman who owns the car is hysterical and freaking out. Coach is trying to help me up. And I am sitting there laughing like a loon! I am unable to get my feet under me as it’s pure ice. Keep in mind the temp is in the minus twenties and the wind is freaking cold.

Once I leave the ice bath I am pretty much instantly frozen. I waddle my way into the hotel (sans glasses as they are ice covered and fogged so I can’t see). I proceed to laugh the entire way through the lobby and up the elevator. Most of those I cross think I have lost my marbles as I am still laughing like a loon.

To top it off? We were not successful in helping the young lady get her car out!”

Your donation is in resourceful and loving hands

Donating a car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle through our program is a personal process. The team on this side of your gift is going to keep things moving in a forward direction. No matter what! 9.99 out of 10 donations thrums along without a hitch. Working for over 1,000 charities for more than 10 years means we have some beautiful process in place. Our agents serve diligently and compassionately across Canada.

Quick, friendly efficiency is our work-a-day normal! But if icy patches and snow drifts and cars stuck in parking lots do get in the way? We’ll get it sorted.

The intention, character, and loving kindness that we exercise in our personal time is exactly what we invest in your donation process. Your gift counts. You matter.