Thank you to all of our supporters, donors, and challengers for making Giving Day 2025 a huge success!
BARK therapy dog Shai and his handler Sam enjoy the sunshine with students from UBC Okanagan. (Freya L. L. Green photo)
On behalf of everyone on the B.A.R.K. team, we want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported us on UBC Giving Day! Thanks to your efforts, whether it was donating or re-posting on social media, we were able to raise over $40,000 on April 3rd! With 132 donors, we far surpassed our previous record from our last Giving Day in 2022. Out of 84 causes across both UBC campuses participating, we finished 5th overall for most funds raised AND were the top in the Okanagan!
Due to your support, we also unlocked more challenges than ever before! These include the Okanagan AM Challenge, Health & Wellness Challenge, Alumni UBCO Challenge, Alumni New Donor Match, Okanagan Student Challenge, Faculty and Staff New Donor Match, BARK Match, BARK Donor Challenge, Faculty and Staff Multi-Cause Challenge, UBCO Happy Birthday Challenge, and UBCO Happy Birthday Bonus.
We could not have had such a successful Giving Day without the tremendous support of every single one of you. Seeing our extended B.A.R.K. family coming together for a very exciting 24-hours meant the world to all of our staff, volunteers, handlers, and UBCO students, so THANK YOU.
We are also incredibly grateful to the businesses in the community who sponsored our challenge gifts: Motor Werke, VEDA Exclusive Student Living, and Alpine Helicopters and would like to thank West Kelowna Oral Surgery, Mercedes and Lexus Kelowna, Safety Worx Safety Solutions, Freyjasnjoerd Analytical Specialists, and Okanagan Pasta Company for their generous donations.
The B.A.R.K. giving day committee, including John-Tyler, Freya, Mikaela, Clara, Elena, Mia, and Anya are incredibly proud of the B.A.R.K. community looks forward to putting these funds toward improving student and community mental health.
Lastly, thank you to our amazing B.A.R.K. handlers, dogs, and student volunteers who made the event on April 3rd the success that it was. We couldn’t do this without you!!