Auto dealers rev up Calgary charities
How a local automobile show helps the community at large
Keeping your automotive dollars local helps fund several Calgary charities.
How? Through the Calgary Motor Dealers Association.
Formed in 1951 to help enhance the automotive industry in this city, the non-profit group has another mandate. Since its inception, the association has dedicated itself to giving back.
Currently, there are 74 member dealers. While many of these retailers are actively involved in supporting their own select charities, they all back the philanthropic efforts of the CMDA.
“Several dealers volunteer to sit on our donations committee,” says CMDA executive manager Jim Gillespie. “We meet every year in October and decide how we’ll divvy up the money.”
Where does the money come from? The annual Calgary International Auto and Truck Show.
Every spring at the BMO Centre, the CMDA and its member dealers host the event that pays homage to the latest and greatest in technology and horsepower.
“Seventy-five to 85 per cent of the net proceeds from the auto show are donated out to Calgary charities each year,” Gillespie says.
In 2013, the CMDA selected 33 charities worthy of support. That’s the largest number of non-profits ever chosen.
“It was a long list this year — it was a good year,” Gillespie says.
Included on that list of 33 charities are the Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary Food Bank, Kids Cancer Care Foundation, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Special Olympics Alberta, The Mustard Seed and Calgary HandiBus.
The CMDA has long supported HandiBus, an organization that provides transport to Calgarians with mobility issues.
At its start in 1972, Calgary HandiBus had 12 full-time drivers and a dispatcher-manager working from a central office. The service ran six buses — each one of them donated to the association.
Back then a bus cost $6,000 and was little more than a converted van equipped with a folding steel ramp at the back to facilitate loading and unloading wheelchairs.
“What’s changed the most over the years are the vehicles used for accessible transportation,” says Calgary HandiBus Association director of fund develop- ment Marni Halwas. “The buses have come so far from where we started.”
Where the first HandiBus vehicles could carry two adults in wheelchairs, current buses can transport eight. Buses also have the capability of servicing ambulatory passengers. Every five years — about the average lifespan of a HandiBus vehicle — the CMDA funds the purchase of a new set of wheels.
“HandiBus was at the top of our list this year,” says Gillespie, “because we had our old bus coming off service in January. “We wrote a cheque for $90,000 and it’s a very rewarding feeling.”
And then there’s Vehicles and Violins, the CMDA’s opening gala at the Calgary International Auto and Truck Show.
Vehicles and Violins offers an exclusive sneak preview of the auto show, allowing patrons an opportunity to get up close and personal with much of the newest sheet metal. Guests can do this while enjoying live music courtesy of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, supping on international cuisine and tasting a selection of fine wines.
In 2013, the CMDA and its Vehicles and Violins gala supported three local charities, the ALS Society of Alberta, KidSport Calgary and the Make A Wish Foundation (southern Alberta).
“We raised the bar this year ...,and we raised a record $375,000,” Gillespie says.
Since the gala’s inception in 2000, the CMDA has raised $2.5 million, with every dollar going to local charities.
Recipients for the 2014 event include the Canadian Cancer Society, Inn From the Cold and KidSport Calgary.
“Buying local and attending the car show, that’s really where all of the money comes from,” Gillespie says. “And, we wouldn’t have a car show if there weren’t local dealers to support our industry association.”