Terry Farrell
Record staff
The Comox Valley residents showed a lot of love at the YANA Big Love Benefit, held at the Florence Filberg Centre.
The annual dinner and auction raised $87,000 for You are Not Alone, the community organization that helps Comox Valley families who need to travel to access medical treatment for their children.
It was the highest amount raised in the 26-year history of the event, and a 20 per cent increase over the $70,000 amount raised at the 2015 auction.
YANA community relations manager Ocean Varney said the generosity of the Comox Valley never ceases to amaze her.
“This was our first year calling it the Big Love Benefit and that’s fairly accurate. The people there were just full of love and generosity and fun,” she said. “It’s incredible, really. Every year seems amazing to me, but this was just unreal.
“Corporate sponsorship was up this year, which is another big reason for that increased total. Because of sponsorship, all the expenses were covered and we could really give everything raised directly to the cause.”
It was not only the corporations coming through.
“The live auction was amazing,” said Varney. “We raised $30,000 in the live auction alone. That’s more than last year, with fewer items auctioned off.”
The silent auction items weaved a path throughout the facility, out the door and down the hallway, as more than 200 items were available.
The YANA crew will now turn its attention to the YANA (Spring) Kids’ Clutter Sale, Sunday, April 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Courtenay Elementary gym (1540 McPhee Ave.). There are many ways for the community to get involved in that project. Go to bit.ly/1nrFB6o for more info.