Late last year, we got the chance to join Defender at the Destination Defender West festival in Temecula, California. There, a weekend full of Land Rover heritage and outdoor enthusiasm, albeit rainy, was capped off with the Defender Service Awards Gala, an event where the winning finalists of the 2025 Defender Service Awards, presented by Chase, were announced, each receiving a donation of $30,000, along with a customized Defender 130 to help each organization with its mission.
Six incredible organizations earned this distinction at the 2025 Defender Service Awards Gala: Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society from Vancouver, Canada, which rescues marine mammals like entangled seals, sea otters, and more, Jason’s Box from Paris, Kentucky, which offers severely injured veterans the opportunity to take part in free outdoor activities, Feeding Northeast Florida from Jacksonville, Florida, which combats food insecurity and hunger throughout twelve Florida counties, Chilliwack Search & Rescue from Chilliwack, Canada, a 100-percent volunteer-run search and rescue operation in British Columbia, Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada from Dorval, Canada, which delivers exciting activities to seriously ill children and their families, and West Place Animal Sanctuary from Tiverton, Rhode Island, which is dedicated to providing refuge to a diverse range of animal species across eight acres of historic farmland.
In addition to the winners, all 30 of the category finalists were awarded $5,000 each by Chase, the presenting partner of the Defender Service Awards, and Artemis Cars, a Premier Partner of the Defender Service Awards, donated $10,000 each to the second-place finalists. Category sponsors at last year’s awards included S&P Global Mobility, Disney, ei3, Hearts & Science, PELICAN, and Outside. A total of $390,000 was given in prize funding at last year’s Defender Service Awards, part of a current total of over $1.5 million given by the Defender Service Awards, along with 30 vehicles.
This past weekend, duPont REGISTRY got a front row seat as the winners gathered at JLR’s North American headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey, where employees of the manufacturer were given presentations about each of the winning organizations, and representatives from the winning organizations were presented with their customized Defender 130 SUVs. Then, the winners, along with sponsors, drove roughly three hours to Manchester, Vermont for a celebratory and informative weekend with their new cars.
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One of two Land Rover Experience Centers in the United States calls Manchester, Vermont home, and it’s nestled in the Taconic Mountains right next to the majestic Mount Equinox. There, we got to experience the incredible off-road capability of the Defender 130 with the help of expert off-road driving instructors. While the Defender 130 features incredible technology like adjustable ride height, terrain response modes, surround cameras for tricky maneuvers, hill descent control, electronically locking differentials, and many more, the course and the instruction empower drivers, showing that the Defender’s assisting features are incredible tools that can be harnessed effectively, given skill and educated decisions.
During the off-roading sessions, which included traversing some trails on Mount Equinox as well as in the Experience Center, one major highlight was when the instructor had drivers stop the car at the top of a tall and relatively steep hill, and with Hill Descent Control on, simply let go of the brake pedal. Your instinct tells you not to; you’re leaning forward with nothing but the sky in front of you if you look towards the horizon, and a steep descent in front of the hood, but once you let go of the brake pedal, the car carefully crawls down, and you continue your journey.
After off-roading, lunch at Hill Farm offered a lovely farm-to-table culinary experience, along with alpacas on the property, after which team building exercises and a friendly competition of careful driving and pulling a classic Land Rover Defender with a rope added to the excitement.
The evening consisted of a celebration of the winning organizations and their meaningful work, and on Sunday morning, we returned to Mahwah, saying goodbye to the new friends that were made in the camaraderie-filled adventure. With the new customized Defender 130 vehicles handed over to their deserving organizations, the Defender Service Awards, presented by Chase, looks forward to supporting even more charitable organizations in the future, combining the brand’s adventurous spirit and off-road dependability with poignant purpose in making the world a better place for everyone.
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Image Source: JLR/Chris Eckert Photography
