2024 Preston and Steve Campout for Hunger
Save the date: Tuesday December 3, 2024
Meet up: 6:00PM
Meet Location: WAWA 2600 Penrose Ave Philadelphia, PA 19145
Drive over: 6:15-6:30PM
We need your help!
PhillyMINI history lesson… for years, PhillyMINI has made the trek to the WMMR Preston & Steve’s Camp Out for Hunger, the charity donation drop off for Philabundance Food Bank.
MINIs, filled to the brim with canned goods etc., lined up at the Ridley Shopping Plaza in Folsom, PA for a drive to the downtown XFinity Center for the drop off. People would cheer and take photos of the small cars filled with donations! It was a feel good time helping others in our namesake city.
Over the last few years, the Porsche club started a new event the Sunday before the week long “Camp Out” started. The new event gathered car clubs from the area in a car show type event where each group had a scheduled time to “drop off” their donations and “weigh in” for the totals. It became a competition of sorts. As the event grew they added Mainline Cars and Coffee, food trucks and even an auto cross course, all with hopes of raising more money towards the charity event. Our club gladly was on board and continued to participate with the new format.
Back through the early years of the club, up until last year, PhillyMINI has participated and increased their donations year after year. In the last few years of the “car show” era, PhillyMINI has been one of the top donating car clubs at the event! We’ve received mentions on the WMMR radio show and even posts on Facebook and Insta. No one ever beats the Porsche club, but we came in second one year, proving how our little cars have HUGE hearts! (And can hold a lot!)
Well my friends, this year, PhillyMINI was left off the line up for the car show. MINI Coopers, in general, are NOT on this year’s timed entry for drop off. Many of the regular clubs are still on the line up, including Tesla, Jeep and MOPAR but not us. When we asked, the organizers stated “We will fit you in somewhere” but they would not give us a time. Disappointment is definitely the word I would use to describe the feelings of our club officers. Did we fly too close to the Porsche reign of the event? We do not know the exact reasons behind their choice to exclude MINI, but we will be taking action and thats why we need all our club members to help!
We are going old school this year. Our club will not go quietly into the night… we will continue to show how a small car club with small cars have HUGE hearts!
This year we will meet at the WAWA on Penrose Ave, which is just a short drive to the XFinity Center. We will drive over during the actual Preston & Steve event, drop off our donations and then head over to Chicky & Pete’s (1526 Packer Ave, Philadelphia, PA) for dinner.
We need your help! We need as many MINI Coopers as we can get! Lets show them, No one puts PhillyMINI in the corner! Fill your cars with canned goods and non-perishable dry goods and join us for this special event. If you are unable to make the drive, monetary donations are being received at our PayPal account (PhillyMINI.org). Please put a note in the comments, “For Camp Out”
After the drop off, everyone is invited to join us for dinner at Chicky and Pete’s. (Sign up for dinner is separate, for head count)
The officers and I thank you sincerely for all the donations over the past several years. The great city of Philadelphia also thanks your kind hearts!
Tracy Krapf - Prime MINIster, PhillyMINI.org