Community engagement is one of the most important missions for Carvana and its team members across the company. With a presence in hundreds of markets from coast-to-coast, Carvana’s culture is quite literally woven into the fabric of our country, as we share in the health and welfare of our communities and the people we serve everyday through our Carvana Cares initiatives.
Sure, being a force for good goes hand-in-hand with our goal of delivering great car buying experience for our customers, but it can’t stop there. Deep down, we believe that being a force for good should go beyond doing the little things that make a customer’s day with the hope that they’ll consider us again when they re-enter the used car marketplace. We believe it’s an engrained value that you wake up with and that should extend beyond a simple transaction; it’s a way of life that spills over to positively impact the people and places that have welcomed us with open arms, regardless of whether they’ve bought a car from us.
Carvana Cares is the vehicle we use to spread these feelings of goodwill. From our existing initiatives, we were able to create a tangible video series to showcase feel-good stories from across Carvana Country. Ultimately, however, our hope with Carvana Cares video series is to offer a deeper look into the hard work, happy moments, passionate people, and all the other things that are important to us but can’t be adequately described in a blog post, press release, or a prepared statement. It’s about providing a window into moments that have to be seen to be truly felt.
In 2021 alone, Carvana Cares funded 35 “Passion Projects” that were led by team members within our organization. And through that, Carvana was able to partner with 25 outside organizations from across the country to help make a difference in our communities. Whether it was tackling the issue of hunger and food scarcity in underserved communities, donating over 80 pairs of shoes to children in Houston, raising money to help fight childhood cancer, or kickstarting a letter writing campaign to the men and women of our armed forces during the holidays, the Carvana team was there every step of the way to offer up it’s time, energy, and resources to help make a positive impact. Below is just a sampling of other projects and initiatives that we were proud to be a part of in 2021:
- The “Do Good, Drive Thru,” which provided food to 80 families in need
- “One Step At A Time,” an event in which participants walked over 2,000 miles and over 4 million steps to raise money for Black Girls Run!, a foundation that encourages and motivates black women to practice healthy lifestyles
- “Weathering the Storm,” a donation drive for Texas Without Water in which participants donated over 3,000 cases of water to Texas residents who were affected by the brutal winter storms in 2021
- “Stepping Out Of The Darkness,” an event in which over 500 Carvana employees participated to donate money to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
In total, Carvana team members from across the country came together to give away four cars and donate tens of thousands of dollars, which excluded costs associated with car giveaways, food and water donations, dog adoption fees, and other such initiatives.
Carvana Cares’ Passion Projects are just a small way that team members from across Carvana have organized to help their communities, as many of these individuals operate independently to serve the areas and people that are near and dear to them. There aren’t enough “thank yous” out there for these generous people within our ranks, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to help partner with them to help make a difference.
However, we don’t plan on stopping there. For as long as there is Carvana, Carvana Cares and the Passion Projects of our team members will continue to be a focal point and cherished tradition of our community outreach efforts.
