Volkswagen Canada is celebrating essential workers in its third annual “Volksgiving” event, rewarding 18 VW owners with personalized gifts including a cottage weekend in Muskoka, a wellness retreat in the Laurentians, and a paddle-boarding adventure weekend in Kelowna.

Volkswagen received more than 1,100 responses to a cross-country call asking people to nominate an essential worker who risked their personal health to take care of others. The company selected 18 people, including a flight paramedic, a nurse, a deafblind intervenor, a retirement home staffer and retail stocker, to appear in what they were told was a film about essential workers.

During the interview, all of the interviewees were surprised by video messages from friends, family and co-workers thanking them for their contributions, before being presented with one of the personalized gifts from Volkswagen that have become a hallmark of the “Volksgiving” program since its 2018 debut.

“Many Canadians have experienced the selfless, heroic acts our essential workers fulfill every day to keep us healthy, safe and cared for and we are so proud that many of these are Volkswagen owners” said Volkswagen Canada’s director of marketing Lynne Piette in a release. “As members of the community and Volkswagen family, we wanted to show our gratitude by giving these individuals something memorable and unique.”

The Volksgiving program started in 2018 as a way for the automaker to reward its most loyal customers, but the program’s focus has shifted in the past two years to emphasize people who are giving back to their community. Last year’s chapter was dedicated to community volunteers.

Volkswagen is promoting this year’s Volksgiving with a five-minute video appearing across its social channels. The video was developed by Type1, with Soft Citizen, Eggplant and Darling for production/post-production, as well as BMI for prizing and H+K for public relations.

The videos for the first two chapters have garnered nearly three million views combined on YouTube alone.