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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 very grateful thank you to the former Vanisle Airfield Society for their recent donation. We appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this donation during the closing of their business. YANA, and the families we support say thank you!
We want to give a HUGE thank you to Pilon Tools for including us in their 50th anniversary plans! Not only did they raise a great amount of money for the YANA families, but they had a successful BBQ and event! We wish you nothing but the best for the next 50 years!
A huge crafty thank you to our friends over at Central Builders in Courtenay for their recent donation! I don’t know if there is a better pairing than a BBQ for a good cause! We appreciate everything you do for our community!
Major thanks are given to the Provincial Employees Community Services LTD for their recent donation. Without help from folks like you, we would not be able to do what we do here at YANA. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We want to give HUGE thanks to the Comox Valley Potters Club for donating the proceeds from their annual YANA pottery bowl fundraiser. What a spinning success it was! We couldn’t do what we do without caring hearts like yours!
YANA Ride 2022 a Massive Fundraising Success for Local Charity
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Riders, donors, sponsors, volunteers, YANA friends and supporters, what an honour and privilege it was to reunite together again for YANA families. This year was all about transitioning gracefully and coming back stronger than ever, and what a comeback it was!
Together, we raised $86,500 to help Comox Valley families with children or pregnant moms who need medical care away from home. Absolutely amazing!!
Thank you to every single person that rode, fundraised, made a contribution and had a hand in making the 2022 Comox Bike Co YANA Ride a massive success.
Check out this recap of the 2022 event, mark your calendars and start making plans for your YANA Ride in August 2023. We can’t wait to join together again at the Party in the Park on Sunday, August 20, 2023!
YANA Ride 2022 50/50 Winner and a Heart-Warming Story to Go Along With It!
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There is no shortage of heart-filling stories about the love surrounding YANA families through the YANA Ride fundraising, but this one is a doozy!
Meet Sherri Moran.
Sherri is this year‘s Comox Bike Company YANA Ride 50-50 winner!! But far more importantly, Sherri is a very proud grandma to Onyx Cederlof. You may remember Onyx and his parents Meaghan and Josh from their beautiful post around the time of the YANA Ride last year.
With gratitude forever in her heart for how YANA supported her baby grandson and his parents while Onyx was in the Nanaimo NICU for almost a month, Sherri made a generous donation towards the 2022 YANA Ride. When she realized she wouldn’t be able to make it to the Party in the Park on Sunday as she had planned, she decided to help the fundraising efforts out a bit more by purchasing 50/50 tickets as well…..and wait until you hear how else Sherri has decided to help!
Upon receiving the phone call that she was this year’s 50/50 winner and hearing that she would be receiving a $2607.50 prize, only a few seconds of shock and excitement passed before Sherri let Kelly from YANA know what her plans were for the money, and exactly why she’d made that decision. Sherri is donating $1607.50 back to YANA, and the $1000.00 she’s receiving is going into education savings for little Onyx. Through misty eyes and cracking voices on both ends of the phone call, Sherri explained how she was honoured to give back to the organization that had helped her family when they needed it most, and that contributing to Onyx’s bright future ahead seemed like the perfect way to spend her windfall.
Thank you for your incredible support Sherri and for sharing this beautiful story of the circle of love and generosity surrounding YANA and the families we serve!
McIntoshes paying it back at this year’s YANA Ride, after paying it forward in 2021
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Originally published by the Comox Valley Record, August 11th 2022.
By Lina Konovalov
Last week, Beckett Williamson was introduced as one of the youngest riders ever for the Comox Bike Co YANA Ride annual fundraiser. “One of the youngest” being the operative term.
Meet Caelan McIntosh.
Caelan is a YANA baby, whose first YANA Ride came before he was even born!
Knowing in advance that their baby would need to be delivered at BC Children’s Hospital, Cam and Melissa McIntosh started Team Broken, Battered and Brews-ed for last year’s YANA Ride to raise money in hopes of “paying it forward” for their intended Vancouver trip leading up to Mel’s estimated due date of Sept. 19, 2021. And raise money they did! Their team (with mama Mel still carrying wee Caelan) was YANA’s second-place fundraising team last year, raising nearly $7,000. Cam was the top individual fundraising rider for the 2021 event raising $4,304.13 for YANA.
Baby Caelan made his arrival on August 25, 2021, at BCCH, and this year, Team Recovering Brews-ers is riding for YANA again, and raising funds to celebrate Caelan’s first birthday as a way of saying thank you for the help YANA provided.
From now until Aug. 21, bikers across the Comox Valley and beyond will be riding in the 2022 Comox Bike Co. YANA Ride in support of YANA and the local families this organization helps.
YANA, or You Are Not Alone, is a local registered charity that provides travel and accommodation assistance to families who need to access medical care for a child or pregnant mother somewhere outside the Valley.
Medical trips can be extremely costly, with some trips costing several thousand dollars. No matter the cost, YANA is there to help every step of the way. These trips are life-changing for the families in need, and they occur in huge part due to the efforts of the incredible YANA riders gathering pledges and the donors and sponsors supporting them.
Last year YANA was able to provide $265,000 in travel funding and accommodation support. The more pledges that are raised throughout the ride, the more families YANA can say yes to at times when they need it most.
Registration is ongoing. The Comox Bike Co YANA Ride allows you to chart your own course, riding when, where and how you like. On Sunday, Aug. 21, all riders, sponsors and YANA supporters throughout the community are invited to gather at Comox Marina Park between 11 a.m.-4 p.m. for the annual Party in the Park celebration to congratulate everyone’s great achievements.
For more information, registration, or to pledge a rider or team (such as Team Recovering Brews-ers) click on the links above!
We want to thank Eliza, Suzanne & John for hosting a hugely successful BBQ fundraiser for YANA! We are thankful for our YANA families, and the generosity of these wonderful folks!
Hip Hip Horray to Gladstone Brewery for an extremely successful IPA Day on August 4th! We can’t begin to thank all the amazing folks who came out to support YANA whether that was through buying the commemorative glass, drink tickets, baked goods, or straight up donating! Thank you “beery much” doesn’t even seem like enough. You guy’s really “raised the bar”