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YANA is generously upheld by the spirit and kindness of the Comox Valley. Check out what is going on and learn about amazing supportive efforts taking place within our community. We respect the privacy of our individual donors, as such this is a sampling of donations where public acknowledgement is appropriate.
A huge shoutout to Alicia at Art Adventures and all of her incredibly talented students for putting together such an inspiring Art Grab Bag Fundraiser!
With the heartwarming theme of children supporting children, these young artists helped raise an amazing $910 for YANA — proof that creativity and kindness go hand in hand.
Thank you for pouring your time, energy, and love into this fundraiser. Your support means the world to local families.
A Legacy of Compassion 💛
YANA Comox Valley recently received an extraordinary gift through a legacy donation of over $40,000 from the estate of a local community member. While we are keeping her identity private out of respect for the family, we want to publicly honour the profound generosity behind this bequest.
Gifts like this one have a lasting and powerful impact, ensuring YANA can continue to say “yes” to families who need to travel for medical care for a child or pregnant mother. A legacy donation doesn’t just support one moment—it creates hundreds of them. Moments where families stay together, where children are where they need to be, and where love and community carry people through.
To the loved ones of this remarkable donor, and to all who include YANA in their estate plans: thank you for believing in the power of kindness that endures beyond a lifetime.
Register & Rally Your Crew for the 2025 YANA Ride!
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The annual YANA Ride brings together riders of all ages, abilities, and disciplines in one massive community-wide event to raise funds in support of YANA families.
Registration starts June 1, 2025, and participating is as easy as 1-2-3!
- REGISTER & RALLY – Round up your friends, family, coworkers or riding crew and register as a team! Rallying together makes fundraising more fun and impactful — and every team member’s tax-receiptable registration donation counts toward your collective goal. Prefer to ride solo? No problem — individual riders are always welcome too! However you roll, you’ll be riding for local families who need it most.
- RIDE & RAISE – Choose your Challenge tracking distance, time, number of trails, or number of communities you’ve ridden in, OR chart your very own course. Ride on Sunday, August 17th, or any day between August 1st to 17th, collecting pledges along the way.
- Distance Challenge – YANA supported 271 children and pregnant mothers last year.
- Gather pledges for the 271 kms you ride for this challenge.
- Time Challenge – YANA helped families with 588 medical trips last year.
- Gather pledges for the 588 minutes you ride for this challenge.
- Trail Challenge– YANA helps children tackle the toughest terrain of their medical journey.
- Gather pledges as you ride 3 off-road trails for this challenge.
- Communities Challenge – YANA helps families from every Comox Valley community.
- Gather pledges as you ride in 3 communities for this challenge.
- OR Chart Your Own Course riding and gathering pledges as you ride between Aug 1st-17th. Consider becoming a YANA Ambassador Rider to help promote YANA’s fundraising efforts by sharing your adventures.
- Distance Challenge – YANA supported 271 children and pregnant mothers last year.
- REUNITE at the massive PARTY IN THE PARK celebration on Sunday, August 17th from 11AM to 4PM at Comox Marina Park. Riders, families, friends, and YANA supporters far and wide are welcome!!
This is a party you won’t want to miss! Party in the Park highlights include:
- $1000 Comox Bike Co. gift certificate grand prize draw! All registered riders at the Party in the Park can enter to win
- Finish line and congratulatory stations
- Sponsor-donated prizes for every fundraising rider and the official 2025 YANA Ride t-shirt for the top 200 fundraisers
- Beer garden featuring Ravens Moon Cider and Gladstone Brewing
- Silent Auction of bike gear and accessories
- Live music and entertainment
- Taoist Tai chi demonstration with a chance to join in and try it yourself
- Activities for kids, and kids at heart, including face painting, bouncy castles, and the Comox Valley Toy Library Society’s toy station
- Air Canada Raffle, 50/50 Draw & Golf Ball Drop Tickets
- Your favourite Marina Park food trucks, baked goods, and seaside snacks
- …..and more community fun!
A Ride of Thanks: How the Knopp family is giving back for baby Autumn
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In a whirlwind of events, Autumn Knopp was born eight weeks early and immediately flown to Victoria for specialized neonatal care. Samantha Knopp was transported by ambulance shortly after, while the rest of the Knopp family remained in the Comox Valley, unsure of what would come next. That’s when YANA stepped in.
“Kourtney [the Client Care Coordinator at YANA] was wonderful. She reached out right away and made sure we could all be together,” shared Knopp. “She found a hotel for my husband and our older daughter, Jozlyn so that we could stay close.”
The support didn’t end there. When Autumn was transferred from Victoria to Nanaimo’s NICU, Kourtney once again helped the Knopps find accommodations near the hospital so they could remain close to their newborn. “YANA was there every single day we needed something,” Knopp said. “Kourtney was a wealth of knowledge. She connected us with all the supports we needed. We weren’t prepared for what happened, but YANA helped us through it all.”
Thanks to YANA, the Knopps were able to stay together throughout Autumn’s 20-day NICU journey, easing the emotional and financial stress of being far from home.
Now, the Knopp family is giving back by participating in this year’s YANA Ride. Riding for baby Autumn, her big sister Jozlyn is raising funds for YANA so they can continue supporting families like hers. Every day after daycare, Jozlyn jumps on her bike and rides home, each pedal stroke a symbol of hope, resilience, and gratitude.
“We’re riding for Autumn and for all the families who will need YANA one day,” said Knopp. “We want to give back to the organization that was there for us when we needed it the most.”
At the time the article was written, Jozlyn Knopp was just a few hundred dollars away from reaching her $2,000 fundraising goal. Let’s help her get there! Donations can be made by clicking the “Register – Make a Pledge – Get Info” button at www.yanacomoxvalley.com.
Every contribution supports YANA’s mission to ensure Comox Valley families with children or pregnant mothers needing medical care away from home can stay together and focus on what truly matters: healing and being there for each other. YANA’s Executive Director, Kelly Barnie, sums it up best, “Every time someone rides, donates, or cheers a little rider like Jozlyn on, they become part of something powerful. Together, we make sure that no family is ever alone during one of the hardest times of their life. That’s what YANA is all about.”
To participate in the 2025 YANA Ride, donate to a rider like Jozlyn, or get more information about joining the fun at the August 17th YANA Ride Party in the Park, visit www.yanacomoxvalley.com.
WOW! ⛳️
A huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to Scott Parsons and everyone involved in the Bud Englund Memorial Contractors Cup Charity Golf Tournament for raising an incredible $9,540 for YANA!
This amazing total will go directly toward helping local families in their time of need. Your generosity, effort, and community spirit continue to blow us away.
We are so grateful to be part of a community that rallies together in such a meaningful way. THANK YOU for keeping Bud’s legacy alive through compassion and giving.
Big shoutout to Alexander Gingras for being an absolute YANA rockstar! Your donation is helping local families when they need it most — and proving once again that kindness lives right here in the Comox Valley. 🙌
Thanks for stepping up, spreading love, and showing us all what community support looks like! We’re so grateful to have you in the YANA family.
🚗 A big thank you to Jenika Martin for turning her Dodge 1500 into something truly meaningful!
Through the Your Choice to Donate program, Jenika chose YANA as the recipient of the proceeds from scrapping her vehicle—and we are so grateful for her generosity and support.
Every act of kindness helps us continue supporting local families when they need it most. Thank you, Jenika, for making your donation count in such a special way!
HUGE thank you to the amazing team at Storage Works Cumberland!
We are beyond grateful for their incredibly generous donation of a storage unit to YANA. This is a total game changer for us — allowing us to safely house, protect, and keep track of our event inventory all in one organized space.
Thanks to Storage Works, we can now be more efficient with our time, make the most of our generous volunteers, and stay ready to roll for all the community events and fundraisers that keep YANA strong.
From all of us at YANA: thank you, thank you, thank you!
🍫✨ A sweet THANK YOU to the Comox Valley Record, Hot Chocolates, and Parker’s Appliances & More for once again making magic happen with the annual Valley Vonka fundraiser! We are beyond grateful that YANA was chosen again as the recipient of such an amazing chocolate-fueled fundraiser! Thanks to this incredible community initiative (and a whole lot of delicious chocolate bar sales), a whopping $18,000 was raised to support local families.
To everyone who bought a bar, shared the excitement, or helped spread the word — thank you for making a difference, one chocolate bar at a time!
A special shoutout to the amazing Grade 6 Division 11 students at Royston Elementary for their incredible support of YANA!
These young entrepreneurs raised funds for YANA through their Entrepreneur Fair this past school year—and we are so inspired by their creativity, generosity, and community spirit! ✨
Thank you for choosing to support local families through your hard work. You are making a difference, and we’re so proud of you! 👏
