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North Shore Rescue gets a serious boost of $75,000

You know how much we in B.C.

You know how much we in B.C. prize our wilderness? Well, what we don’t prize so much are the volunteers who risk their lives to keep that wilderness safe for the thousands of hikers, bikers and explorers who like to think they know what they’re doing out there. When they get lost, make a mistake, take a wrong turn and end up in trouble, the people they call are volunteers who drop their family life, their weekend activities, their day jobs whenever the pager goes off.

Think about that for a second. These guys are like you and me – balancing jobs, kids, households – and yet, in the middle of the day or night, they are willing to leave everything behind and rush off into the mountains, into the heart of dangerous avalanche territory and onto the edge of precarious cliffs, to rescue people and keep them safe. On top of that, they have to train every weekend in some of North America’s most unforgiving territory. It takes a lot of courage, commitment and bravery to do that, right? Would you do it?

That’s why the announcement today of a major donation to North Shore Rescue is important news. Marcon Homes - a real estate developer that has for years sold the “outdoor lifestyle” to home buyers on the North Shore and beyond - has gifted $75,000 to the Tim Jones Legacy Fund to ensure the volunteer rescue organization has stable financing. When the NSR team leader Tim Jones died unexpectedly last year, the organization set up a fund in his name to help provide the organization with some much-needed financial stability. So far, with Marcon’s donation today, they have raised $350,000 towards their goal of $6 million. That leaves NSR - the oldest and busiest search and rescue team in the country – with a long way to go.

marcon-nsr-donation

But they are hopeful other real estate developers – and other individuals and businesses - will step up to the plate. “This is the first time we’ve been supported by the real estate industry,” says Mike Danks, NSR team leader. “It’s exciting because we hope it will encourage others to step up and to understand the value in donating to a growing and essential service organization largely dependent on public funding and volunteers.”

Marcon’s donation is based on a portion of home sales from their Lynn Valley development called Mill House. Each home sold will raise money towards a larger corporate donation to the fund. Just steps from Lynn Valley’s village centre, Mill House is a new four-storey, 75 home condo development close to the mountains, the backyard playground for the city’s outdoor adventurists.

Search and Rescue in Canada is at a critical point. Backcountry extreme sports have exploded in popularity, but people think their bail out is just a text message away. Check out THIS awesome CBC documentary that airs February 15 for a more in-depth look at SAR in Canada, and Vancouver’s incredible NSR team.

And follow @nsrescue, @tjlegacyfund on Twitter using #MarconGives, #NorthShoreRescue, #TimJonesLegacyFund