'PASSION FOR HELPING OTHERS': Drive-by shooting victim was long-time YMCA employee

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The YMCA where the victim of Wednesday night’s drive-by shooting in North York worked has launched a GoFundMe campaign to support his family with funeral costs.

In a memo posted to the page, Lesley Davidson, the chief operating officer of the YMCA of Greater Toronto, said Shane Shannon Stanford was part of the health and fitness team at the Central YMCA on Grosvenor St.

“If you ask his co-workers about him, they’ll tell you about Shane’s warm, friendly personality, the strong relationships he built with everyone around him, including Y staff, volunteers and members, his drive to learn more and advance his career, how he always wanted to contribute to the team and pitch in to help whenever he could,” Davidson wrote.

“And his passion for helping others through fundraising and championing the Y’s charitable activities.”

Toronto Police officers found Stanford, 33, slumped over the wheel of an Acura sedan at Regina and Khedive Aves., in the Bathurst St. and Lawrence Ave. area, around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. He had suffered gunshot wounds and the back window of his car was blown out.

Investigators say moments after the gunfire, the car crashed into the side of house.

No arrests have been made.

Stanford is the 58th murder of the year in Toronto.

Mehdi Zobeiry, the vice-president and general manager of the Central YMCA, told the Sun Friday he’s known Stanford for almost 11 years, who was hired at the Y straight out of college and began his career there in 2010 as a co-op student. He worked full-time as a personal trainer, fitness and aquatics specialist and camp counsellor, he said.

“It’s devastating to all of our staff and me, personally,” he said.

“He was a popular camp counsellor and then started working in children’s programs, because he saw that kids liked him. He was teaching basketball or soccer programs at the Y…Unfortunately, his life was cut short. It was a shock, because that night, he had closed the facility and was on his way home.”

Zobeiry described Stanford as “a beautiful soul.”

“If he had an eight-hour shift, he would be here for 10 hours,” he said. “He was great at fundraising. He was very shy at the beginning when you see him, but when you know him, he would come out of his shell and he could do whatever he could to everyone.”

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As of Friday afternoon, over $22,000 had been raised.

The funds, the donation page indicates, will be withdrawn by Stanford’s sister, Ziva Ferreira, and be used to cover funeral costs.

jyuen@postmedia.com