Land Rover Helps Those Who Help Us: Defender Above & Beyond Service Awards

To celebrate 70 years (7 decades) of Land Rover the company is going to give away 7 fully customized Defenders to 7 different non-profits across the USA. The program is called the ‘Defender Above and Beyond Service Awards‘ and nominations start now and end July 27th.

“Defender vehicles have been used for various humanitarian causes around the world for decades and with its recent return to the U.S., we wanted to expand on that legacy with ‘The Defender Above & Beyond Service Awards’ and celebrate organizations that know the value of community and drive to do great things with them,” said Joe Eberhardt, President & CEO, Jaguar Land Rover North America. “Over this past year, we have been inspired by the endless acts of service from people who embody the Above and Beyond spirit of Land Rover, and we’re excited to reward these individuals with new customized Defender vehicles so they can continue to help those around them.”

Service Vehicles

The Land Rover Defender has been used around the globe for decades by humanitarian and military agencies as purpose-built specialized service vehicles. With all that the global pandemic has thrown at us, Land Rover is trying to give back and support those that are out there helping others. It is also trying to show that the Defender is still a vehicle to be used for good. The Defender has been and is a great vehicle for a multitude of service tasks in a wide range of environments.

Defender Above & Beyond Service Awards

The idea of this program is to help 7 U.S. non-profits further their charitable efforts through receiving new custom-built Land Rover Defender vehicles. You can get an idea of the modifications Land Rover has in mind from the renderings they provided for this story.

In order to have your favorite non-profit get a custom Land Rover Defender, you’ll need to submit a video nomination. The non-profit itself can submit a video and nominate themselves, and/or you can do it for them. You’d fill out an entry form and submit up to a 3-minute video that “shares what your charity is about, how it addresses a need in your community and how the Land Rover Defender will help to further your effort.”

The organization needs to be a U.S.-based 501(c)(3)1 non-profit whose efforts fall within one of the 7 categories outlined in the program. These categorize are; search and rescue, coastal and marine conservation, animal welfare, first responders, environmental, urban improvement, and fire services. Each category winner will receive a custom Land Rover Defender outfitted to further their cause/mission.

A panel of judges will choose the best nomination videos and then post them on LandRoverUSA.com for public voting. The submissions and voting will take place in waves, as outlined below.

What non-profits will take home the Defender Above & Beyond Service Awards custom vehicles? We can think of many worthy recipiants.