VW Turtle Race raises more than $20,000 Kamloops charities

KAMLOOPS — The annual VW Turtle Race for charity saw thousands of toy snappers floating down the South Thompson River on Saturday (Sept. 17).

Although there is prize money involved for podium finishes, the majority of the proceeds go to a good cause.

“We’re supporting four charities in the race this year and of course, those are the Chris Rose (Therapy Centre for Autism), the Kamloops Therapeutic Riding Association, the Kamloops Brain Injury Association and the BC SCPA Kamloops branch. The money is going to be put to great use in our community so we’re pretty excited about it overall,” says event coordinator Bryce Herman.

Volkswagen has sponsored the event each year since the idea came into fruition and VW Kamloops owner Terry Lowe says he’s shell-shocked by the support the race has.

“We never thought when we started this over 20 years ago it would still be going but to keep raising money year after year and for the people to keep supporting the race has just been fantastic,” Terry Lowe, Owner of Volkswagen Kamloops.

Over those 20 years, Lowe says the race has racked up quite a large tally of donations.

“We’ve raised somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 for various charities over the years – it’s been amazing to be able to bring this event and keep it going even through the COVID [pandemic].”

Thousands of tickets were sold for the 2022 event as Kamloops residents watched on in support of charity.

“We should end up raising about $20,000 from today’s races so that’s a great start, so this is the seed money and people will donate and top those up as we head into the holiday season,” Herman adds.

Herman says fundraising will continue and donations will float in slowly, but knows as the old saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race.”