Manse Binkley, President of Harmony Honda & Harmony Acura, has provided remarkable support to Special Olympics BC through New Car Dealers Foundation of BC/Special Olympics Auction for more than 12 years, and he values the confidence and self-assurance displayed by Special Olympics athletes.
“The end result for some of [the athletes] is quite magnificent to watch,” Binkley says. “I’ve always been quite moved by how [athlete speakers] have handled themselves and how they’ve presented things.”
Feeling that life has been good to him, Binkley is motivated to help others who might not have been quite as fortunate in their breaks in life. In addition to contributing widely to charitable causes in and around Kelowna, he has become a key supporter of the New Car Dealers Foundation of B.C./Special Olympics Auction over the last decade and more, particularly as a champion of recruiting auction items in the Interior and giving generously himself.
Binkley started the B.C. portion of his career with Don Folk Chevrolet in 1991, and it was Folk who first introduced him to the idea of the auction, causing him to make inquiries and be drawn into the cause. Binkley says the auction is “a unique thing in the way it operates and runs,” and he enjoys its setup as well as the SOBC organization.
Binkley comes from a long family auto dealer tradition, and he took over his father’s dealership in Brandon, Manitoba. After starting the Kelowna phase of his career, he took over Folk’s Honda dealership in 1991 and renamed it Harmony Honda based on a staff idea contest.
He observes that most car dealers are good corporate citizens who are well connected in their local communities and like to share. He and his wife are active in supporting a range of causes in the Kelowna area, from the Canadian Red Cross and the United Way to Kelowna General Hospital and the local university and Okanagan College.
“Whenever we think there’s a good need we try to help out a little bit,” Binkley says.
