Get Vegan Van Back On The Road

Hello friends and thank you for taking time to read our story. 

For those of you who don't know us, we are Brittney and Justin. We are two Colorado natives who share a passion for cooking and a love for animals and the environment. We started our vegan journey over 7 years ago and have been involved in the Denver vegan community ever since. In 2015 we had the opportunity to purchase Vegan Van. We dove in head first and up until recently, running the Vegan Van was the most difficult and rewarding thing we'd ever done. In 2017 we gave birth to our precious baby Olive. Since then, we've been working to find the balance between being small business owners and new parents. We've been blessed to have such amazing family, friends and customers who have supported us through our journey. We know that it's because of all of you that we have made it this far. 

Recently, we got some devastating news and it seems that our 1986 Chevy G30 Diesel Van, Bootsy, is no longer operable. This van not only houses our tiny 10ft kitchen that we use 7 days a week, it also gets us around from location to location. This is a catastrophic loss for us here at the Vegan Van. 

Since getting the news we have done a lot of research and we've decided that purchasing a used truck and moving all of our existing equipment over would be the best option for us. 

We've changed our goal to $20,000 knowing that this is STILL an incredible amount of money, but also knowing that the support of our community has been and will continue to be the one thing that will keep us going. 

With that said, here is a breakdown of what the $20,000 will be used for. 

First we'll need to purchase a used truck. We have been looking around and we think we've found a reasonably priced option. The truck we are looking at ranges between $10,000-15,000 depending on mileage. 

Next we'll need to remove our equipment from Bootsy and install it in the new, used truck. This would include running gas lines, hardwiring equiptment to our generator, covering the walls with steel, installing a propane cage tank, installing a new water system as ours is custom to the truck we have now, reinstalling our exhaust hood and our fire supression system, and cutting out a new service window and back door since we cannot have a roll up rear door. We got an estimate and we are looking at $6,000-$8,000.

Lastly we will need to make Bootsy look like Bootsy. While this is on the bottom of the priority list, we still think it's important. We would love to be able to get a custom wrap, however we do not think that is reasonable at this time. We are hoping to paint the truck and use some much cheaper vinyl stickers to get the job done. We are lucky to have some friends willing to help out and we think we can get this done for under $500-$600. 

We are overwhelmed with the love and support we have received already and we cant thank you all enough. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! Thank you for your donations. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for your willingness to help. Thank you for believing in us. 

Please reach out if you have questions, comments, concerns or ideas. It’s all welcome and very much appreciated. 

We love you guys! 
Brittney and Justin