Murrieta Nonprofit Gives Gift of RVing

The open road beckons for military families, thanks to a Murrieta nonprofit that celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon cutting Wednesday.

F4RV is a nonprofit with the mission of providing free RV rental vacations for qualifying military families who are reuniting after a combat deployment or preparing for an impending combat deployment. 

Unique in the industry, F4RV is a full-service RV rental company, with competitive rates for RV rentals to the general public, which support its free rental RV operations, according to Army Lt. Col. Sarah Letts-Smith, co-founder. A portion of the daily rental fees may even be tax deductible, Letts-Smith said.

Rentals offered are Class C motorhomes between 23- and 29-feet-long that can sleep six to eight people.

U.S. Military veterans can receive a 20 percent discount off regular RV rental prices, and a 10 percent discount is offered to public school teachers, police and firefighters. 

Letts-Smith, along with husband Rory Smith and their four children, are themselves a military family. Sarah is a 28-year U.S. Army Reserve veteran, with three combat deployments since 9/11 to her credit. 

As essentially the single, working father of four children during each of Sarah’s deployments, of managing a family while a loved one is fighting a war abroad.

Together, they found that their RV trips before and after her deployments helped focus the family on the important things, and helped keep their marriage strong, even as they dealt with many of the financial struggles typical in today’s economy.

Wanting to bring this gift to other military families, they started F4RV. One military family, the Sparks, of Murrieta, recently took the first free trip offered through F4RV.

The company hopes to develop corporate sponsorships to further its cause, and will accept cash and gift card donations, such as gas cards. Cash gifts can be put toward sponsoring a trip for a qualifying military family.

"We have families lined up through Thanksgiving, with a couple of weekends still open," Letts-Smith said. "We are restricting the trips to 3-4 days each, so that a deserving family can have a vacation each weekend."

There are also several ways for supporters to use their existing RVs to donate to F4RV. The company can sell or consign RVs, with the proceeds supporting free vacations for qualifying military families, or RVs can be donated when they are not use so that a military family can use it for their vacation. Charitable contributions may qualify for tax deductions.

While Letts-Smith doesn't envision being able to send families on repeat trips within the same year, she said that could change if more donations come in and they are able to expand their fleet.

"But if the trips help and a family comes back for another trip after another long deployment, we’ll certainly try to help," Letts-Smith said.

For more information, visit F4RV.org or call 951-500-9799.