When I launched Joeriaknits.com in 2021, I had a clear purpose—to build a business that would allow me to donate 20% of our net profits to Canadian charities that support substance use treatment and long-term recovery. Why? Because addiction has profoundly changed my world as I knew it.
In November 2015, I learned that my 27-year-old son was addicted to fentanyl and fighting for his life. Thankfully, he agreed to enter detox at the Salvation Army Harbour Light in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. With the support of family and friends, we were able to find a recovery centre on Vancouver Island, where he completed a two-month residential program at Cobble Hill Recovery Centre.
After completing the treatment program, he moved to Surrey, BC, living in several stage-recovery homes while working to rebuild his life and confidence. Today, he has his own apartment, is surrounded by a supportive community, and works in construction. With ten years of sobriety, he remains committed to staying clean, and I am profoundly grateful—and incredibly proud—to still have him in my life.
How Can You Help?
First, we must reduce the stigma surrounding addiction and recognize it for what it is: a medical condition, not a moral failure. Second, people struggling with addiction need access to affordable, supportive, and long-term treatment options. Too often, individuals are released back onto the streets after only a three or four-day detox, without ongoing care—an all-too-common pathway to relapse.
While I am beginning to see positive change, there is still so much more work to be done.
In our first year of business, we donated $550 to the Salvation Army’s Nine Stories of Hope campaign, supporting the construction of a new drug treatment facility in Vancouver, BC, scheduled to open in the Spring of 2026. Learn more:https://ninestoriesofhope.org
Thanks to our incredible community of knitters and crocheters, this year I am honoured to announce a $5,350 donation to the Salvation Army’s Nine Stories of Hope treatment centre.
In addition, a donation of $300 was given to Cedars at Cobble Hill Society, as part of our commitment to donate 100% of the proceeds of the sale of the Beginner's Knit/Crochet Kits.
I am immensely grateful—this would not have been possible without everyone who supported Joeriaknits in 2025.
There is hope. One day at a time.
Yvonne