A West Vancouver-based charity with a soft spot for North Shore Rescue has doubled the amount donated to the Tim Jones Legacy Fund.
Ian and Rosemary Mottershead of the Charros Foundation approached the team early this week to offer a $118,000 cheque, to match the amount offered up by more than 1,000 friends, businesses and perfect strangers who admired Jones' selfless devotion to saving lost souls in the woods.
"We were obviously very, very surprised and very happy to receive that. (Treasurer) Ron Royston announced it at our team meeting (Tuesday) night and everyone was surprised and happy and gave a round of applause for the Charros Foundation," said John Blown, longtime NSR team member.
NSR set up the legacy fund in hopes of growing it to a point it will generate enough interest to cover the costs of operations, training and gear. The team has to hunt for grants and private donations to cover the costs on an annual basis.
"It's going to go towards that fund and that will provide more stable funding for us over the years. It was the dream of Tim's that we're not always scrounging for money and not knowing if we're going
to have enough to pay for training and equipment," Blown said.
Ian Mottershead said the donation, along with several other sizable gifts to the team, was driven by an admiration of NSR members' selflessness.
"We just think that they are a remarkable bunch of men and women. When you consider the number of hours they put in, they don't have any spare time. They do 85 calls a year, which means they're called out one or two times a week," he said.
Charros has mainly chipped in to help with capital costs like vehicles and the team's new rescue base, but Jones' death prompted the foundation to change tactics slightly, Ian said.
"We got to know Tim Jones over the last 10 or 15 years. His death was just such a stunning shock to us. We had been talking about this fund to finance their annual operations for some years," Ian said. "It's a very important thing to provide continuity so the team members don't have to worry about how they cover their costs all the time."
Following the donation, the online campaign at fundrazr.com sits at more than $237,000 and remains open.
Also contributing to the fund this week was Grouse Mountain, which matched donations from visitors to its free Family Day pancake breakfast event and topped up its contribution to $5,000.
