Built to Serve: How Community Heroes Can Win a Land Rover Defender 130 and $30,000
Do you—or someone you know—participate in a service that moves mountains? If so, you could win a Land Rover Defender that can climb one, plus $30,000.
Do you know of a charitable nonprofit organization that’s doing great things in its community? Volunteers putting in time and resources to perform selfless acts of service and give back to their community? Of course you do! You know that you can nominate that organization, or your own, to apply for a $30,000 funding grant AND a brand new custom Defender 130? Each finalist for the award gets a check for $5,000, too. Nominations are now open through July 25, 2025. Entry forms and official rules may be found on the Land Rover USA website page for Defender Service Awards.
“The Defender is known the world over as a vehicle of choice for those who are helping others.” Joe Eberhart, President and CEO of Jaguar/Landrover North America, wrote in a release, “It’s most powerful when it is on a mission for good.”
The Defender Service Awards program was founded in 2021 to enable non-profit organizations to expand their missions. Since 2021, Defender has awarded 24 Defender vehicles and over $1 million to more than 85 non-profit organizations across North America. The Defender Service Award intends to provide the organization the ability to cover more ground and create more positive change in their communities.
There are six categories of winners, and for the weekend, we sat down and chatted with several recipients representing each category. They spoke of their founding, what motivated them to start up the non-profit, what impact they are making in their communities, and how their particular Defender award has enabled them to broaden their outreach.
This story is 100% human-researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience, and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks. Additionally, I was a guest at this event, but all opinions are my own.
First Category Goes To Dogs (And Other Animals)
The Animal, Wildlife & Marine Mammal Welfare Award, presented by Disney, focuses on animal and wildlife welfare, shelters, conservation, rescue, and rehabilitation. After just a few minutes listening to Maxine Montello, the Executive Director of the New York Marine Rescue Center in Long Island, New York, speak, I was ready to join her team of volunteers!
The New York Marine Rescue Center’s mission is the rescue and rehabilitation of stranded sea turtles and injured marine mammals for the entire state of New York. They have a hospital center in Long Island where they provide rehabilitation to seals and sea turtle patients so they can be safely returned to the ocean. Because they perform rescues for the entire state, efficient transportation is essential to respond to calls promptly, with a drive time that can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours.
Having the Defender gave them a third vehicle – the Defender, in particular, allows them to get to more remote areas otherwise inaccessible with a van. With the Defendt, they can drive directly onto the beach to pick up animals, thus improving response time and being able to get right to the stranded animal on the beach. Then they can lift the sea turtle directly into the Defender, rather than needing a whole team and stretcher carrying it to a van parked on the road.
The Defender Helped Get the Job Done
This past December, when 130 sea turtles hit the beaches, the whole team was on call, driving all across Long Island while the hospital staff were working long hours prepping tanks and taking in patients as they arrived. With the Defender, they were able to rescue and save over 300 sea turtles!
The largest sea turtle to ever strand in the state of New York was a 380-pound loggerhead, aptly named “Queen,” which presented a challenge to the team. They had to bring a large tanker online at the center that had not been in use for decades. The rescue teams had to return to the gym to be able to lift this sea turtle! It is an arduous effort to be sure, but deeply rewarding. In this case, this female loggerhead was rehabilitated and released after just 6 months.
With a satellite tag to track her movements, Maxine and the staff were weeping tears as they watched her track to the Azores, hopefully to nest.
“Results like this make the job worthwhile,” says Maxine, holding back her happy tears with a big smile on her face. You, too, can follow the tracking of all their released turtles on their website.
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The Land Rover Defender Helped Humans, Too
The Community Services Award focuses on non-profit organizations providing food, shelter, and services to those underserved in the community. So, it would shock no one that it went to Marit Molin, a trained social worker and founder of Hamptons Community Outreach. A non-profit that aims to “lift people out of poverty by meeting the most basic and critical needs,” according to the organization’s homepage.
“I could not live in the Hamptons if I did not do the work I do. To see the extreme wealth and the extreme poverty is just heartbreaking,” Molin said, accepting the award.
When Molin moved to the Hamptons from Manhattan, she was just shocked at the poverty. The people who actually clean and care for the mansions are deeply struggling. The Hamptons are getting more expensive every year. Finding teachers, restaurant workers, and hotel staff has become more and more difficult, since it is so hard to make ends meet in those professions, yet they are vital to the homeowners, families, and residents of the Hamptons.
Kids came to her home without a winter coat. During COVID, a single dad invited her to come to his home and see how he lived with two sons. Broken doors, broken windows, a collapsing ceiling, toxic mold, and no heating. Nowhere to go and no resources. Started home repair program, and in the past 3 years, have renovated 65 houses and built 4 houses from scratch. Hamptons are getting more expensive, and teachers, restaurant workers, and hotel staff are hard to find because it’s so hard to make ends meet in those professions.
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Search and Rescue Non-Profits Were Recognized, Too
The Search, Rescue & Emergency Support Services Award is presented by PELICAN and narrows down the best non-profits that specialize in search and rescue in remote areas or regions that have been ravaged by natural disasters. The winner should also be able to provide emergency supplies and services, too, if needed. This year, it went to the Linville Center Rescue Squad in Avery County, Tennessee.
The organization only has about 75 volunteers. Just 40 of them are designated for mountain terrain rescues, while others are trained for ocean and surf rescue, S&R with dogs, and they can drive ambulances or deliver food and supplies to communities affected by natural disasters.
Training to be a Linville Center Rescue Squad is rigorous, but certainly not thankless. They train every Monday night, and practice replling off of rock cliffs, removing a person from a wrecked vehicle, and how to handle a call from a 911 dispatcher. From there, they have to effectively communicate that info to the team and quickly formulate a plan based on who’s on call and their skillset.
Because of the Land Rover’s complex terrain selection system and rugged 4WD system, the Defender has helped them complete everything they’ve asked of it. Including bringing food and supplies to regions stranded by a flood. Trash, debris, and materials were not a match for the Defender.
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We Can’t Forget About Out Veterans and Public Servants
Julie Sanderson, the founder and director of Patriot Service Dogs in Bellevue, Florida, was an obvious winner for the Veteran & Civil Outreach Award. Her organization provides highly trained service dogs to honorably discharged veterans at no cost to them. Sanderson founded her non-profit to help veterans in need who would benefit from a dog to help ease them back into the world around them, and it’s helped numerous veterans regain their independence and confidence, as well as provide much-needed companionship.
Recently, Sanderson branched out to local prisons and started a program to help inmates train dogs. Not only was it helping train dogs, but it also helped inmates have a goal, gain crucial job training, and help them realize they’re doing something good. Plus, the dogs get to have some fun and benefit from compassion, too.
Together, they shine a spotlight on groups that are less vocal, like a homebound veteran with anxiety, and nobody knows they exist, and inmates that society doesn’t want to know exist. Supporting two invisible populations and showing they are doing good work.
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A Land Rover Helps Educate Others on Outdoor Etiquette, Too
The Land Rover Defender is an obvious choice for this year’s winner of The Outdoor Accessibility & Education Award, which went to Emily Fisher, the Executive Director of Youth Sports Alliance in Park City, Utah. The organization provides transportation for children in underserved communities so they can participate in adaptive sports and learn about the great outdoors.
Fisher also runs after-school programs, provides scholarships to low-income students, gear, and transportation. With the Defender, they have been able to increase participation in programs by over 25%. Her program supports several other local sports clubs with direct fundraising support and scholarship opportunities, too.
Her program greatly benefits single-parent families or working parents could not otherwise get their kids to the programs, and also gives children of those families critical education, gives them a chance to socialize and make friends, and be a part of the community around them in a constructive way.
The 5-week program costs $50, and if that’s too much, families can pay with a payment plan based on their income. Last year, her after-school program had over 2,500 kids from grades first to 12, and she just recently launched a Junior Ski Instructor program so graduated students can return and teach new students to ski.
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So, How do I Nominate Myself or Someone Else for Next Year’s Ceremony?
If you think you’re deserving a customized Land Rover Defender 130 or know the owner of a non-profit who is, all you need to do is fill out a form with your basic contact information and upload a three-minute-long video that clearly explains the organization’s mission, values, activities, and how they bring passion, energy, and enthusiasm to their volunteers. You’d have to explain how the non-profit aligns with the program’s criteria, too.
The program also wants to know the organization’s immediate needs, how a Defender would help them complete their goals (both long-term and short-term), explain what features on the Defender would be most helpful to the organization, and why they want a new Defender.
The message is more important than the method. It’s not about how dazzling a three-minute video is, it’s about what you do and why. Amateur videos are welcome.
If you’re ready to submit a video, the link is here.
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