Giving Back To Our Community
People often question what 4×4 clubs are all about, that could entail a variety of things, but the basics are simply a group of folks that share a common interest in off road and 4 wheel drive vehicles. Members vehicles can be of many different shapes and sizes but all of the vehicle are capable in most any terrain, snow being one of them.
In the past week the Tri-Cities was blanketed with over a foot of snow leaving traveling the road precarious at best. Knowing the potential of possible inclimate weather hitting us here in the Tri-Cities lead the club to discuss and rough out a plan to help local healthcare workers get to and from the hospitals that serve our thriving community.
Calls were put out to two of the area hospitals Trios in Kennewick and Kadlec in Richland, offering our capable rigs (toys) and drivers to deliver their personnel in these conditions. Both hospitals were thrilled with the offer, and we were able to muster 5 rigs to help do just that. Since this past Saturday evening the group has traveled close to 1800+ miles combined for 3 days and nights around the clock, providing 60 rides either to work or back home.
For the club members participating it was a nice way to give back to our community, and maybe help change people’s minds as to how 4×4 clubs like ours can lend a helping hand besides traveling through forest roads, mountains, and deserts. We hope to sit down with hospital leadership when things thaw out to formalize this help for future storms.
The rides were offered free of charge although we did receive some donations to help offset the cost of such and operation. Things went so well we caught the eyes and ears of local news too, see the clips below.