The Yukon joined the Ride for Dad family in 2010, extending the Canadian presence from coast to coast to coast.

Establishing a motorcycle ride-based charity organization in a jurisdiction with the shortest riding season may have been a challenge, but Al and Leah Verishine were ready for this and leveraged their connections to a bike group to get started. The Yukon is full of people ready to support a great cause -through volunteering, supporting through their business, participating, or sponsoring a friend, and the Ride soon grew too big for its first few venues including several years in the local Ford dealership lot (thank you Whitehorse Motors!).

A board member in the early years proposed a fundraising event involving a comedy night to help break up the Yukon’s long, dark winter, and allow for the participation of a wider audience. With connections to great big name comedians and a quick following, the board committed to working all year round to function with two big events -our summer Ride Day and our winter Comedy Nights -both allowing for participation, fund-raising, and a chance to talk about prostate cancer awareness.

The Yukon chapter hosted the National summit in 2017 and welcomed researchers who were taking advantage of Ride for Dad fundraising to explore innovative research, testing, and treatment options. One of these endeavours involved ground-breaking research that may be able to detect aggressive cancer simply through a blood test. This is of particular relevance to the Yukon with most specialists thousands of kilometers away, and we have been using our money raised to further this research so we can send blood instead of patients out of the Territory -catching cancer earlier, and saving lives.

Thanks,
Michelle and Mike

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