The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund For Water Search and Safety, a registered charity, is dedicated to the promotion of water safety, and the funding of water rescue teams, research, and education. It also helps to fund water rescue team training for quicker response time, and for safety and efficiency.
Founding
The fund was founded in 1998 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, in memory of brothers Richard and Ronald Rees as well as their friend Gregory Cook, who died in a boating accident in July 1998 on Georgian Bay. Ronald Rees's fiancée, Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt, founded The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund For Water Search and Safety along with Cook and Rees family members and friends.
During the incident, McKennitt was recording her new album in England, Live in Paris and Toronto (1999), of which most of the proceeds ($3 million) were dedicated to the foundation. The Fund has so far granted money to more than 20 Canadian organizations. In the future, the Cook-Rees Fund promises to support numerous initiatives concerning water safety, search-team effort and water rescue.
Loreena McKennitt states: "More than 500 water-related fatalities and many more injuries occur in Canada every year. With increased education, research, and public awareness, many such incidents could be prevented. For anyone who has experienced such a tragedy, one of the few consolations is to hope that one can assist in changing things for the better."