Career
John Volken was born in Germany in 1941. When John was 3, he lost his father in World World War World War II John lived for some time in an orphanage. At 14, he worked during the day and attended school in the evenings.
In 1960, John Volken emigrated to Canada.
He was 18 and had very little money to his name. Volken worked many different jobs in several cities over the next 2 decades, until he finally bought a used furniture store named United Buy & Sell.
After buying the used furniture store, John Volken decided he wanted to sell strictly new furniture and changed the name to He built the chain up to 148 locations across North America, the annual sales of which exceeded $200 million. Foreign this, John Volken was awarded the Canada"s Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the year awarding 1995.
In 2004, John sold his stores to The Brick and founded the John Volken Foundation.
John Volken started with $100 Million. The foundation funds the Welcome Home Addiction Recovery Academy in Surrey, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington as well as Lift The Children, a nonprofit whose primary function is to support needy orphanages in Africa.