The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Kayaker’s grieving sister smashes new charity target
Safety: Surge in donations for drive to raise awareness of lifesaver device
The sister of Aberdeenshire kayaker Dominic Jackson – who died at sea – has smashed her initial fundraising target just weeks after she started.
Ellie Jackson launched an online fundraising drive to create a charity, PlanB, in her brother’s name and promote the use of Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) among outdoor enthusiasts.
Setting out to reach £5,000, the target has now
“Inexpensive technology such as PLBs can be used to prevent tragedies”
been extended to £12,500 due to the surge in donations.
Miss Jackson believes the death was “completely preventable” – if her brother had been wearing one of the safety devices.
She said: “We feel the public has little awareness of how inexpensive technology such as PLBs can be used to prevent tragedies like this. We would like to use his legacy to prevent any other family having to go through the pain of such a senseless waste of life.
“When I started this campaign, I had no idea that people’s generosity would allow us to raise our target in such a short space of time.
“Further down the track, we would be looking to ensure that carrying a PLB at sea is as common as wearing a seatbelt in a car or a lifejacket on the water.”
Thanking those who have donated already, Miss Jackson added: “We still have a couple more weeks of this campaign left to run, so I have raised the target to £12,500 in order that PlanB can reach even more people.”
Mr Jackson, 35, died on a solo kayaking trip after setting off from Portsoy on February 4. His disappearance sparked a massive land, sea and air search until his body was eventually recovered from the water near Lybster on Thursday, February 9.
His distraught father, Jeremy, has spoken of his gratitude to everyone involved in the search.
Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/domjackson