General News
It’s a wrap, bidding closed
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Thank you to everyone who participated in our online auction! Bidding closed February 20. You will have received an email if you were a winning bidder. Purchased items can be picked up on or after February 27th at the YANA office. Office hours are Tuesday and Thursday 10am – 2pm. #102-2456 Rosewall Crescent, Courtenay (250) 871-0343.
YANA Big Love auction now underway
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Running until Feb. 20 at 9 p.m., YANA presents their first Big Love On-Line Auction with all proceeds benefitting YANA Comox Valley.
For over three decades, YANA has been hosting an annual dinner and auction to raise funds for local families who need to travel outside the community for the medical care of a child under 19 or a pregnant mother.
“The Big Love Benefit Dinner and Auction is our biggest annual fundraiser,” says YANA president Kelly Rusk.
“It remains a wonderful evening filled with generosity from our sponsors, donors and guests. However, we have always been aware that we are limited by the size of the venue and nature of the event.”
Over the past years, YANA has seen growing need in the Comox Valley related to medical travel which has resulted in significantly higher program costs. This has required the local charity to think creatively and to expand its fundraising.
“Bringing a piece of our biggest fundraiser online and opening it up to the wider community is something we’ve always wanted to do,” said Marcie Dumais, YANA executive director. “The business community and individual donors contribute greatly to auction, and we want to maximize their donations to our cause and increase the benefit their gifts bring to families.”
Links to the YANA Big Love On-Line Auction can be found here.
“Now everybody can find cool stuff, see the community’s generosity, and be part of the Big Love,” adds Dumais.
“We hope everyone will check it out,” said Rusk. “Remember to bid high and bid often for Comox Valley families.”
Online Auction Bidding Starts February 7
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From February 7 (9am) to February 20 (9pm), YANA will be offering a new opportunity for the whole community to participate in Big Love through an online auction. Now everyone can see our community’s generosity, find cool stuff and be part of the BIG LOVE needed to support local families. Register now as a bidder so you are ready on February 7th!
A Brew Fit For Love
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This love potion is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Brad Harris, a full-time family physician by day and self-taught brewer by night (and owner of the Royston Nano Brewery), is undertaking his second brew-based fundraiser in partnership with Gladstone Brewing Company, this time producing the Love Potion NEVI (North East Vancouver Island) IPA.
Brad Harris (middle) stands with members of Gladstone Brewing Company and Beach Fire Brewing and Nosh House from Campbell River. Dennyse Harris photo
“It’s a juicy, sweet, hoppy – but not bitter – easy drinking beer,” explains Harris, shortly after he finished brewing the beer at the Courtenay brewery.
(Keeping with the love theme, musician Richard Spencer officially ‘blessed’ the yeast with love songs in order to make it happy as possible.)
The beer will be canned on Feb. 13, with 1,400 cans being individually hand-labelled by volunteers the morning of Feb. 14 – just in time for Valentine’s Day – for a release party that evening at Gladstone.
The canned beer will be sold at Cascadia Liquor Stores across Vancouver Island, as well as at the brewery. All proceeds will be split between YANA Comox Valley (You Are Not Alone) and the BC Children’s Hospital Oncology.
Nearly two years ago, Harris began his partnership with Gladstone Brewery, and created the Royston IPA. He hosted an It’s Not Just Beer, It’s Love event, with proceeds donated to YANA and BCCH Oncology.
The two organizations have close ties to Harris and his wife Dennyse.
In November 2012, their daughter Linden, then three-and-a-half years old, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one of only 35 children in the province to get diagnosed with leukemia each year.
Following two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy and treatment at BC Children’s Hospital, Linden is now healthy.
While in Vancouver, Harris and his family depended on support from the Comox Valley – and particularly that of YANA, which provides accommodations and funding for local families who need to travel outside of the area for treatment for a child under 19 years of age.
RELATED: Doctor brewing up unique YANA fundraiser
“This is a perfect example of YANA and how the community comes together,” says Marcie Dumais, executive director of the organization. “The passion of Brad and Dennyse is such a good example of community support.”
Dumais notes events such as the Love Potion release is “so great because it’s so needed. There is an expanded need (of services from YANA) which leads to expanded program costs.”
Glasses, growler fills and cans will be available at the brewery beginning Feb. 14 in addition to Cascadia stores.
The release party runs from 4 to 10 p.m.
For more information, visit the Love Potion NEVI IPA Facebook event page or RoystonNanoBrewery.com.
Online ticket store
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Looking for our online ticket store for Big Love Benefit? It’s here:
https://yana.tickit.ca/ SOLD OUT
Please contact YANA if you are interested in the wait list.
Tickets for YANA’s 2018 Big Love Benefit go on sale online Sunday
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On Friday, Feb. 23, guests will fill the Florence Filberg Centre for fun, food, friendship and fundraising at the YANA 2018 Big Love Benefit.
Among the highlights of this popular evening are a live auction led by iconic auctioneer, Dave Stevens, dinner by Tria Fine Catering, a photo presentation by McKinnon Photography, and dancing with Above and Beyond Entertainment.
“The Big Love Benefit is so many things to YANA,” said You Are Not Alone executive director, Marcie Dumais. “It’s a chance to celebrate the support we have provided to families, an opportunity to share our story and to raise funds for the coming year.”
Raising funds has taken on a new urgency as YANA recently experienced its busiest year since its inception in 1986. Thirty-two years ago, founder Sandra Williams achieved her vision of establishing a support organization for families travelling outside the community for the medical care of a child or a pregnant mother. Her hope that no family would ever be alone in these circumstances has been carried by several decades of generosity.
This past year YANA saw significant increases in out-of-town healthcare related to birth and high-risk pregnancy. This need, along with successful outreach, program development and continued support for children experiencing a range of medical challenges, has led to high program expenditures, up 21 per cent year over year with continued increases expected in 2018.
“We see this as positive,” said Ocean Varney, YANA’s community relations co-ordinator. “That we are able to respond to the growing needs of our community by supporting families in such a meaningful way leaves us full of purpose and gratitude.”
Varney acknowledges that these increases create challenges but is confident the challenges will be met by thinking big.
“So how do we continue to meet these needs? To start with we make the Big Love Benefit bigger,” she continues. “We maintain the core event but we add to it by offering an on-line auction that runs for the two weeks leading up to Big Love.”
Dumais adds, “We have amazing donors and supporters and we’re excited to have the opportunity to reach out to our whole community and to expand on what is already an event so filled with love for YANA families.”
YANA’s purpose is to improve access to healthcare by providing travel funding and accommodation to Comox Valley families with a child or a pregnant mother needing medical care away from home. YANA maintains four furnished apartments near BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver and also provides accommodation in Victoria, Nanaimo, and in other treatment locations.
There are many ways to get involved in the YANA Big Love Benefit. You can donate an auction item, sponsor the event, or participate in the new online auction. For more information on all these opportunities, visit yanacomoxvalley.com, email events@yanacomoxvalley.com or call 250-871-0343.
Interested in attending the Big Love Benefit? Tickets go on sale Sunday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. and are sold online. Tickets sell extremely fast. Mark your calendars, set your alarms and join YANA for this upcoming event.
Save the date for Big Love Benefit
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The YANA Big Love Benefit will be held Friday, February 23rd, 2018 at the Florence Filberg in Courtenay, doors open 5:30pm. Our annual dinner and auction is full of fun, friends and fundraising and we hope you can join us. More information here.
Tickets will be available online Sunday, January 21st at 10am. Tickets sell extremely fast. We recommend you bookmark the online ticket store website and regularly refresh your browser. Tickets will be sold individually and grouped into tables of 8. Eight is the maximum quantity allowed per transaction. A credit card is required for payment. Thank you for your interest in this event.
Grand Prize Winner
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Lucky winner of the YANA Christmas Crackers grand prize, Barb Newman, shows off her diamond ring donated by Mark the Gold Guy, appraised at $3,390 by Tim Haley at Simply Timeless.
Comox Fire Department offering tree-chipping this weekend
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Residents of Comox looking to get rid of their old Christmas trees can head down to the fire hall this weekend.
The fire service will be chipping trees on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All they’re asking for is a monetary donation, which will be going towards the You Are Not Alone (YANA) Fund Society.
YANA is a community organization that offers help to Comox Valley families travelling for medical services for their children.
For those who can’t get down to the hall in person, a tree pickup can be scheduled.
1870 Noel Avenue, Comox
Call 250-339-2342 for pick up in Comox with a minimum $5 donation