JEEPAPALOOZA HISTORY:
Jeepapalooza was founded in 2014 by the Comox Valley Jeep Club in Courtenay, BC (Vancouver Island)
Larry Charbonneau (one of the CVJC founders) signed up to complete the Ride to Conquer Cancer which cost $1500 to attend. The CVJC with 36 jeeps participating, decided to have a small event to help cover his costs and ended up raising almost $3500 which Larry was able to present at their event.
In 2015 Larry also attended and this time was able to donate $8615.30 from Jeepapalooza. Many things have changed over the years however our passion for the event and raising as much as we can for our BC Cancer Foundation cause has been our #1 priority. The CVJC continues to volunteer for local events like Snow to Surf and donate what we can to the event on behalf of all the co-founders.
In 2016 it was run by a slightly different group and they raised $3500
We rebranded and regrouped in 2017 and managed to donate $17,034.78 for BC Cancer that year.
2018 was an amazing year having almost doubled our previous year by donating $31,000
However in 2019 we raised another whopping amount - That year was our best year so far having donated $36,500!!
As everyone went back to normal in 2022 (after the pandemic), we were able to gather our new & old volunteers to regroup again and donate $25,000 to the BC Cancer Foundation for Immunotherapy research!
In total our family-oriented fundraising event has raised over $125,000 in the past 8 years for Cancer Research (immunotherapy) and purchasing very important machines such as a PET/CT scanner and IV/pumps to administer chemo drugs to patients etc.
2023 was another record-breaking year for Jeepapalooza, we raised $50,000! That brings our total donated over $175,000 in the past 9 years for Cancer Research (immunotherapy) and purchasing very important machines such as a PET/CT scanner and IV/pumps to administer chemo drugs to patients etc.
This year our focus will be raise enough money to purchase an "ArcCheck – new phantom, stand and software
The current phantom is more than 10 years, no longer supported and has been damaged a few times. This phantom was an important part of starting our lung and prostate SABR program (the clinical trial I mentioned beforehand). With liver SABR on the horizon and likely more SABR sites to come, we need a new phantom where delivered doses to more than one location can be measured.
This is an integral piece of equipment and software to allow the radiation team to plan and deliver multiple high doses to a patient during one session.
Jeepapalooza 4x4 Association is proud to be run by all unpaid volunteers that have worked very hard throughout the years to make this event safe, fun, and successful!