A family holds flowers while the funeral procession for North Shore Rescue leader Tim Jones makes its way down the street in North Vancouver, B.C., on Jan. 25, 2013.Ben Nelms/The Globe and Mail
Donations have poured in to a memorial fund set up by North Shore Rescue in the difficult days after the death of its team leader Tim Jones.
By Monday the fund neared $85,000, just six days after it was created and barely a week after the 57-year-old died suddenly while walking through Vancouver's North Shore mountains.
In a note posted on the North Shore Rescue's website, society treasurer Ron Royston says members worry about confusion over a second fund created by the Justice Institute of B.C. in Jones's memory to pay the education costs of aspiring paramedics.
Jones was also a veteran paramedic, and Vancouver-based Mountain Equipment Co-op has pledged to match all donations to the Justice Institute fund, up to a maximum of $10,000.
Royston says Jones' family and North Shore Rescue appreciate the efforts of the Justice Institute, but the priority is their own legacy fund, which will support Jones's dream of making the rescue team self-sufficient.
The team kept a promise to its former leader on Sunday night as members, including Jones's son Curtis, answered the first call-out since the death – guiding a group of eight hikers to safety after they got lost on a North Shore trail.