Swim honours missing women
Canadian Press
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
QUALICUM BEACH -- A Vancouver Island woman thought the last of her 610 laps of the 25-metre pool -- the one she did for her sister who disappeared from the streets of Vancouver nine years ago -- was going to be hard emotionally and physically.
"I wasn't sure I could do it, but once I got into the water it felt so good," Erin MGrath of Parksville said Monday.
She raised $4,500 in pledges by swimming 610 laps Monday for a total of 15,250 metres.
The swim, intended to incorporate 10 laps for each of 61 women missing from Vancouver's gritty Downtown Eastside since 1978, lasted almost seven hours.
The money will go to the Missing Women's Legacy Society to help it start the Legacy House, a facility in Maple Ridge to help women trying to leave the sex trade.
Robert Pickton, a Port Coquitlam pig farmer, is charged with killing 15 women who are among 61 identified as missing from the Downtown Eastside.
When McGrath stepped out of the pool, she immediately embraced Lyn Frey of Campbell River, mother of Marnie Frey.
Last month, Marnie Frey's remains were found at Pickton's farm.
"We both burst into tears," McGrath said. "It was a special moment."
© Copyright 2002 Vancouver Sun
