FILE PHOTO: Vernon Search and Rescue
Image Credit: Vernon Search and Rescue Group Society
December 01, 2017 - 11:00 AM
VERNON - This time, Vernon Search and Rescue needs your help.
The volunteer organization is in the running to win a much-needed piece of equipment — a side-by-side off road vehicle.
The vehicle, also called a UTV, is being given away by KIOTI Tractor as part of an online contest.
“The UTV would allow us to bring our equipment, and our people, in through logging roads to search sites,” SAR spokesperson Trevor Honigman says. “It would mean a lot to us. We don’t have one. It would really fit a niche in our equipment that is currently empty.”
Vernon SAR has existed since 1960, with members responding to dozens of calls every year in the North Okanagan backcountry. Volunteers assist with everything from injured hikers, to lost snowmobilers to missing people in urban environments.
“It’s been another record year for us,” Honigman says of 2017. “We’ve had four record years in a row.”
The organization has been planning to buy a UTV, but if they win one instead, the money can go to other things, Honigman says.
“We could use the funds to buy a trailer for the UTV, and equipment to outfit it with,” Honigman says.
So far in the contest, which required the organization to submit a video, they are battling for first place against a fire department in Cleveland. Today is the last day you can vote, with the contest closing at 9 p.m. Friday.
“Honestly the entire community has been awesome in responding to us,” Honigman says. “All across B.C. and Canada, different SAR groups have been helping us out with this.”
The group is asking people to vote and share today for a big final push.
Click here to vote.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2017