Kurt Campbell, Campbell Auto Group, and Vision House Executive Director, Derek Sciba 

Our Executive Director, Derek Sciba, recently sat down with Kurt Campbell, of Campbell Auto Group, to dive a little bit into the partnership between Campbell Auto Group (Kurt Campbell and Craig Campbell), and Vision House over the last 20 years.  The Campbell Families and Campbell Auto Group were instrumental in the building of Vision House Shoreline, and have continued to partner with Vision House in myriad ways.  Campbell Auto Group was the Premier Sponsor of our Annual Luncheon this year, and we are grateful for their ongoing support! Read a little more about how Campbell Auto Group and Vision House began their relationship, the values behind their mission to support our community, and the wrap-around, holistic care that Vision House believes is the key to the success of the families we support.

DS:  How did our partnership start (Vision House and Campbell)?

KC:  That started over 20 years ago. It started with a group of pastors that I invited to the dealership to discuss what we could do in the community together. What came out of that meeting was a heart's desire to help moms with children who were experiencing homelessness. As God would have it, a week earlier, I had visited Vision House for the first time, and was so taken by them I explained that to the pastors. We then took a field trip down there (to Renton, Washington) and they fell in love instantly with Vision House and what they were all about and invited Vision House to come up North and start laying the groundwork and plans for what is now the Shoreline Vision House. We called it Jacob’s Well (the movement), and that’s how my brother and I got involved with Vision House.

DS:  I’ve always wanted to ask this– I know the story of Jacob’s Well, but how did you land on that name [for the early part of this project]?

KC:  Jacob’s Well is an interesting passage. I had received a vision from God, and this vision was about bringing the body of Christ together around something greater than any one individual or entity could accomplish.  I won’t get into the details of that vision – as I was explaining the vision to my dear friend and she said, “You need a name for your vision.” I had recently come across the passage where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and the well is Jacob’s well. And it dawned on me that the well was the place that everyone in the community eventually had to go to because water is the lifeline for life, and so the well represented a central focus point for the community.

DS:  And everybody needs water, it doesn't matter where they come from or who they are.

KC:  Correct.  We take it for granted because it comes right out of the faucet for us, but without it we don’t last very long.

DS:  Why were you taken with Vision House in particular? What was it about what Vision House does that was interesting to you?

KC:  I think that what really struck me about what made Vision House unique was that I had visited lots of shelters over the years, but most of the shelters were designed more around emergency housing, taking care of a bad situation the best that they could in a short amount of time. What I love about Vision House’s model was it was longer term– a year or even two years sometimes– where a family had time to breathe, be surrounded with support, and really take the opportunity to dive a little deeper into what caused this homelessness? How do we break the chains of homelessness, how do we actually prepare a family for life after Vision House, and be in society, be productive, and be all they can be? I think it was the wrap-around care and the amount of time that sealed the deal for me.

DS:  It’s logical; I mean, you go through trauma, you have to work through it. If you have ended up in a desperate situation on the street, wow, there's a lot of life circumstances behind that. 

KC:  Absolutely, it’s like you just said, it’s not a quick fix.

DS:  Why has this been a Campbell Auto Group deal and not just a Kurt and Craig deal?

KC:  Well, Kurt and Craig IS Campbell Auto Group.  This is our livelihood, and we think it’s a great story. If we can share our story with our employees, if we can share this story with our community, with our customers, then we think there's a greater chance that Vision House will get more eyeballs, more checks written, more volunteers. Share the good news, right?

DS:  And show people that good work takes relationships. It can take time, but it’s worth it.

KC:  Absolutely.

DS:  Is there anything in your own background that has prompted you to focus on this topic, anything that has personally inspired you?

KC:  What really inspired me was bringing the body of Christ together. (Helping.) To think that I could be a little bit of a ligament to do that. And what came out of it was Vision House. I never was seeking to build shelter for homeless moms and their kids. I know Vision House deals with fathers now as well, but back then,  it was moms and their kids. That's not what I was seeking; it's where God led me. Obviously, you can't help but be touched. What religion is God seeking? “Take care of the widows and the orphans.” – This hits that as a bullseye.

DS:  Agreed.  Tell us about your business – family-owned for years and years.  50 years now? 

KC:  So Craig and I have been very blessed to be third-generation car dealers. This particular facility that we have now, the Volkswagen and Nissan, was started by my father and Arne Nelson, and we stand on their shoulders because they were great men – my father is still alive; he’s still a great man! We love this. This is a family; we have almost 100 employees, and the car business just runs in our blood. We love the process of working with customers, and it’s hard to explain– it’s a family business that we enjoy, and the blessing of being able to work with my brother every day is just an absolute gift.

DS:  You’ve made community involvement a core of your identity. It seems like your hope is to inspire others to get involved, is my read on this?

KS:  Absolutely, that is my heart. My heart is to see that other businesses and other non-profits can work together and have the amazing relationships that we’ve been rewarded with. It’s easy to write a check; it’s a little harder to take time, but the time is so rewarding. Vision House does such great work, as do the other non-profits we support, and they’ve been called to that. We’ve been called to be businessmen. What we can do is make money, build relationships and then we can pass that on to these great non-profits who are on the front lines doing this amazing work in our community.

Campbell Auto Group has a long history of community service and support. This year, they have partnered with nine carefully selected  non-profits, including Vision House. The Campbell Auto Group includes Campbell Nissan of Edmonds, Campbell VW (also in Edmonds), Campbell Kia in Missoula, MT, and Caravan Outfitter in Edmonds, WA.  

As Kurt mentioned in his interview, Campbell Auto Group runs three generations deep!

• James Campbell started his automobile career at Howard Ford in Seattle's University District while he was still in high school. During the 1930s he worked his way up from his first job as a wash boy to General Manager until the start of World War Il. Following the war, he went back to work for the Blume family at University Chevrolet, eventually partnering with Bill Blume to buy Hopper Chevrolet in downtown Edmonds.
• Arne Nelson and Bob Campbell, James's son, met while they were both employed at Hopper Chevrolet in the 1950s. They relocated in 1963 to the corner of NE 205th and Aurora in Edmonds. The store changed to Bill Blume Volkswagen where Arne and Bob continued working; eventually buying the dealership in 1974 and changing the name to Campbell Nelson Volkswagen in 1984.
• The third generation of Campbell's, Kurt and Craig, started working full-time at the dealership in 1991. Enjoying the business, Kurt and Craig began buying stock in Campbell Nelson Volkswagen until they became majority shareholders. In 2003 Campbell Nelson acquired a Nissan dealership in Lynnwood and by 2005 the dealership was relocated to its new building next to the Volkswagen store in Edmonds, Washington. 

Having a passion for the great outdoors, in 2015 the Campbell brothers started Caravan Outfitter, a company dedicated to building affordable multi-purpose campervans. In 2022, Campbell Auto Group's growth continued as Kia of Missoula became the newest member of the family.

Listen to Derek and Kurt’s conversation on YouTube