North Shore Rescue members have tackled snowstorms, freezing temperatures and avalanche danger to find missing hikers and skiers in the 50 years the team has been in operation.
But one of their biggest challenges isn’t out in the mountains — it’s finding the money to pay for the equipment and training that goes into those rescue missions.
“We’re very passionate about what we do,” said Mike Danks, team leader for North Shore Rescue. “Our biggest challenge is funding.”
Danks and other rescue team members were on hand Thursday when North Shore Rescue received a major corporate donation of $40,000 from the Marcon development company.
Marcon has pledged another $35,000 for the team, and is challenging other corporations to get behind the searchers as the team marks its fifth decade with a renewed drive for a stable source of funding through the Tim Jones Legacy Fund.
The goal, championed by the late team leader before his death in 2014, is to raise $6 million for the fund.
Interest earned could then be used towards the team’s $500,000 annual operating budget, making it less reliant on government grants and public donations.
So far the team has raised about $470,000 towards the fund.
North Shore Rescue members are all volunteers.
While the province pays for helicopter time during actual rescues, money for maintenance of the team’s equipment — including supplies for emergency backcountry caches, remote SAR stations and a system of radio repeater stations — plus a portion of the training budget has to be raised.
On Feb. 13, a documentary film about the rescue team, Risk and Rescue, will open the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival at Centennial Theatre.
The team will also host its second annual fundraising night for at Seymour’s Pub in North Vancouver on Feb. 28.
