Olympic champion Katie Vincent joins Kelowna woman’s autism fundraiser

Olympian making waves

This is only the second year of Making Waves for Autism but Kelowna woman Kim Inglis is getting some high-powered support.

2024 Olympic canoe-kayak champion Katie Vincent has joined the campaign that has gone nationwide, with participants from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

"She is doing her own challenge and raising funds but she’s also helping to incentivize people to raise funds,” said Inglis. “If individuals raise $500 or more, then they get access to her through a live, exclusive webinar where they can ask Katie whatever questions they have.”

Plus, there are two community events coming up, including one this Friday at Red Bird Brewing.

“It’s a dryland challenge,” said Inglis. “We’re bringing in five rowing machines into the brewery, into the grassy area there, where people from the community will jump in, jump on the rowing machines and put in some kilometres to help us hit a cumulative target of 365 kilometres.”

The other event is on May 25 at the Kelowna Paddle Centre.

“What we will be doing is we’ll be sending team boats out onto the lake all day long with the same goal of trying to hit 365 kilometres for the day,” said Inglis.

As an added incentive, the Kelowna Paddle Centre is offering two adult memberships (total value $900) as a draw prize during the May 25 team challenge, which is open to anyone who wants to try out the sport while raising money for Making Waves.

She launched the fundraiser last year in memory of her cousin Tyler, who died suddenly, leaving behind a young child with autism. She paddled 365 kilometres, raising almost $46,000 for Autism Canada. This year, fundraising is already well over $36,000 with more than three weeks to go in the month-long campaign.

The money will help support the community assistance program at Autism Canada, a cause close to her heart.

“In Canada, it can take up to four years to get an autism diagnosis, which for a kid is obviously an eternity,” said Inglis.

“Once you get a diagnosis, certain services open up with the government, but in between that, you're kind of in a no man’s land. What the community assistance program does is it helps people get access to private diagnosis, which can be really cost-prohibitive to families."

Click here to participate or make a donation to Making Waves for Autism.