Volkswagen Drive Bigger And Support Your Public Schools

Volkswagen Drive Bigger

You’ve seen the Volkswagen Drive Bigger commercials.   And perhaps you’ve even thought – ah, cool concept.

But check this out.  Volkswagen of America is donating money to public schools.  And YOU can make sure your kid’s class gets some!  No kidding, no strings attached and no games!

“The average public school teacher across the country dips into their own personal pocket to the tune of $450 annually to fund supplies for various school projects. That’s crazy!”

In fact, my friend Randy Halcomb from Ontario VW filled me in on something even cooler.  Your kid’s teacher can go online to set-up the funding request and then you can go fund it for free!

Hear all the details in my podcast interview with Randy or continue reading below.  Either way, go to Ontario Volkswagen ASAP to get the money where you want it to go!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:06 — 10.5MB)

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How To Put Volkswagen’s Drive Bigger $$$ In Your Kid’s Classroom!

Tom: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here, and I’m at Ontario Volkswagen today with my good friend Randy Halcomb.

We’re talking about the Volkswagen Drive Bigger Event, which ties into the Volkswagen commercial that you probably saw. I want to give Randy a chance to just say hello real quick.

This topic has me fired up a little bit because it’s all about our schools, our public schools, and Volkswagen’s diving in to fund our public schools. But say hello real quick Randy, and then I’m going to rattle off some stuff here.

Randy: Tom, always a pleasure to be here.

VW Drive Bigger Event Aims to Help Public School Teachers

Tom: Thank you. The Drive Bigger Event is Volkswagen’s way of really diving in to help our public schools. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I know teachers of public schools.

I’ve always heard that obviously, they’re always working on contracts, they’re always trying to get paid themselves. But what’s outrageous, and this – a statistic. This is outrageous.

The average public school teacher across the country dips into their own personal pocket to the tune of $450 annually to fund supplies for various school projects. That’s crazy!

Randy: I think that number is probably low.

Tom: I think it’s low too. That’s an average. That’s what we know. Right? That’s what’s reported. Certainly, the reporting is probably inaccurate.

The Drive Bigger Event is technically Volkswagen of America is partnering up with their local dealers, Ontario Volkswagen, and providing funds for our public schools.

DonorsChoose Partnership with Volkswagen Drive Bigger

They’re doing it in such a way that my friends that are teachers, your friends that are teachers, Randy’s friends that are teachers, can tell their friends to go into Ontario Volkswagen and help direct where that money goes.

Randy: That is correct, Tom. It’s pretty neat, and I think one of the things that Volkswagen’s trying to do here is really to give back to the community doing more than just selling vehicles, and helping out, and making a difference in our communities, and on our planet.

Tom: But this is a partnership with an organization called DonorsChoose.

Randy:  Yes, they’re the education part of this that ties the donations going to the education teachers’ projects.

It allows any teachers to upload their project, or what they need funding for, versus it coming out of their own pocket. People can go on there and donate to specific classes.

In this particular case, you’re able to come down, we supply you with a donor’s card, and you’re able to apply that to whichever classroom project or school you wish.

Tom: DonorsChoose, it’s basically like a platform, kind of like GoFundMe. Right?

Randy: Correct. That’s exactly what it is, but for education.

It’s Like GoFundMe For Your Kids Classroom

Tom: I wonder if GoFundMe didn’t pull their idea from DonorsChoose?  Because DonorsChoose was started by a teacher in the Bronx, apparently in 2000.  So basically DonorsChoose, and Volkswagen of America have partnered up. You as a teacher can go and post your project that needs funding on DonorsChoose.

Randy: That’s correct.

Tom: Then you as a teacher can tell your friends to go into Ontario Volkswagen and request a donation card. This doesn’t cost anything out of the customer’s pocket.

Randy: Just the time to swing on by and pick one up.

Tom: Right. So you could give me a donation card right now if I knew what I was wanting to apply it to.

Randy: Correct.

Tom: These donation cards, the denomination is?

Randy: They’re $20, and we’ve got quite a few of them here to hand out.

So if you’ve got two, three different parents, one per family, or whatever, but you can have aunts, uncles, different people of your family come on in and ask for a donation card, and donate to that project or classroom.

How To Put Money In Your Kids Classroom with VW Drive Bigger DonorsChoose Program

Tom: Okay. We have these $20 donation cards. They cost me nothing.

I come into Ontario Volkswagen. And, I say I heard about the program. I ask you, Randy, or Shant Bashian, or anybody else here at Ontario Volkswagen, “Hey, I want it. I want to get a donation card,” and then what happens?

Randy: Then we basically just log down who we gave it to so that we can track that. We just don’t hand them out to anybody.

They can open up the envelope, and we’ll walk them over to the computer, and we’ll walk them through the steps on logging into the DonorsChoose.org, and selecting the project or classroom of their choice.

Tom: Cost me nothing. Right?

Randy: Cost you nothing.

Tom: No hidden car games in here.

Randy: No. You don’t have to-

Tom: No hanky-panky of any sort?

Randy: No.

Volkswagen Drive Bigger Public School Donations

Tom: This is literally just-

Randy: About giving back.

Tom: Giving back. Volkswagen’s putting up this money. Ontario Volkswagen’s partnering on it.

DonorsChoose is the platform, and all we have to do, ladies and gentlemen, is come into Ontario Volkswagen, ask for a donation card and direct the money.

Randy: Yes, and here’s something I just thought about Tom. Let’s say that you’ve got a grandchild on the East Coast, and you want to donate it to their school, and they go to school in Florida. You’re still able to come in here, get that donation card, and still donate to your grandchild there in Florida.

Teachers Can Still Sign Up For Funding Requests

Tom: That’s a beautiful thing. We’re giving the money, but then also at the same time it’s open currently and all the time to any teachers that want to go onto DonorsChoose and say, “Hey, I need money for this particular project.”

Randy: Correct.

Tom: So right now somebody listening as a teacher can log on.

Randy: I would highly recommend them to do that because they never know who might donate, or come into the dealership to donate to their school. So I would definitely say if I was a teacher, to put whatever I can up on DonorsChoose because people you may or may not know might end up donating to your classroom.

Tom: “Hey, I’m a teacher. I want to get something funded,” or “Hey, I am a parent. I am an aunt and uncle, a grandparent, that wants to get something funded as well for my kids going to school.” It’s a win-win all the way around.

That the thing why I point out there’s no hanky-panky. There are no games. Right?

Drive Bigger at Ontario Volkswagen Now – Zero Obligation!

Randy: There’s none.

Tom: Because usually, you go to a car dealership, it’s like, “All right. All right. How much money is this going to cost me?”

Randy: Yeah. Yeah.

Tom: But in this case, you guys are giving the ability to give money away.

Randy: That’s exactly what it is. It’s their thought of, as all these kids getting ready to go back to school, of helping these teachers.  We want to make sure that we do the best we can to take care of them.

Tom: It’s a really good thing. Now, the program is going through the end of September.

Randy: Yes, I believe which is like Labor Day.

Tom: So anybody can come into Ontario Volkswagen, ask for a donation card, and submit the donation. Now, I understand as well if they don’t have time to do it at the dealership, they could actually take the donation card home and do it as well. Right?

Randy: Correct.

Volkswagen Drive Bigger Event at Ontario VW – Great Cause AND Opportunity!

Tom: Again, Volkswagen of America, Ontario Volkswagen, and DonorsChoose. It’s just a fantastic opportunity for teachers to get assistance, for our schools to get assistance, and hey, let’s get real. It’s all about our own families. Right?

So it’s a great opportunity to support our kids’ education ultimately. It’s the Drive Bigger Event. If you’ve seen the television commercials, it ties in obviously to the great television commercials that Volkswagen has recently put out where they show the waterfall, and it’s like, “Oh, that’s big.” But then they show somebody turning off the leaky faucet.

Randy: Leaky faucet because of that a bigger issue of how much wastefulness.

“It’s just a fantastic opportunity for teachers to get assistance, for our schools to get assistance, and hey, let’s get real. It’s all about our own families. “

Tom: I love the one where they show a weight lifter lifting the heavyweight, and then they say, “That’s big.” Then somebody running up a flight of stairs, and helping a mom with a stroller come down the stairs and, “Oh, that’s bigger.” Like that sure is bigger for sure.

Randy: It’s a great campaign. We’re super excited about it, and we love doing things for our community.

Get Your Donation Card At Ontario Volkswagen And Drive Bigger!

Tom: It’s the Drive Bigger Event. Volkswagen of America, DonorsChoose, and Ontario Volkswagen. Come on into Ontario Volkswagen before the end of September to direct the funds as you would like to see them directed, which is just so cool.

Randy: Yeah, and a couple of other ways they can share it is by going onto our social media, any of our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and they can share it right from there.

Tom: Well, we’ll repost it on iDriveSoCal as well. My friend Randy Halcomb. Thank you so much as always. Love you guys here at Ontario Volkswagen. For iDriveSoCal, I am Tom Smith.  Thank you so much for tuning in!

 

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