A fundraiser to support the wife and family of a White Rock man who was killed in last week’s terror attack in Barcelona has raised more than $12,000.
The GoFundMe page launched Sunday, three days after a van plowed through a crowd of pedestrians in the city’s popular Las Ramblas thoroughfare, killing 13 and wounding more than 100 others.
Ian Moore Wilson and his wife of 53 years, Valerie, were in the crowd. Ian died in the attack; Valerie was “severely injured,” according to details on the fundraising page.
The couple had visited the country to watch their grandson play soccer, the page notes.
“An act of terror took Ian from his loving family and left Valerie severely injured,” writes page organizer Lisa Byrne. “Instead of focusing on the unspeakable hatred that precipitated this, Valerie’s family has chosen to focus on the incredible acts of human kindness they experienced in this trying time.”
Funds raised are “to allow her and her family to recover in peace.”
The Wilsons’ daughter, Fiona Wilson – a staff sergeant with Vancouver Police Department – issued a statement Friday, describing her dad as “compassionate, generous, adventurous.”
She said the kindness bestowed on her family immediately following the attack and in the days since “are the things we will choose to focus on when we endeavour to come to terms with the senseless violence and acts of hatred that have taken loved ones before their time.”
One donor to the GoFundMe campaign echoed similar sentiments.
“My heart breaks for you and your family,” writes Diane Murray. “We cannot let these people win! xxx”
Facebook commenter Nancy Solomon Garard describes the Barcelona attacks – a second incident occurred eight hours after the first, killing one person – as “cowardly acts of terrorism.”
