By Spencer Sterritt

Area Search and Rescue crews thankful for prov. money, stress need for community fundraising

Mar 28, 2019 | 3:47 PM

NANAIMO — Secured provincial funding for three years means Search and Rescue crews don’t have to worry as much about money, but they’ll still heavily rely on community support.

Nearly $19 million over three years was announced for the 80 SAR teams throughout B.C. earlier this week. The amount is a slight uptick from the last funding announcement three years ago.

Nanaimo Search and Rescue president Carly Trobridge said they’re thankful the funding is in place but hope it doesn’t lead to the perception there’s no need for more fundraising.

“We apply for gaming grants each year, which take hours and hours to write. The government really wanted to take that burden away from our volunteers. This is meant to replace that funding, but we also of course need the support from the community as well.”

Both Trobridge and Arrowsmith Search and Rescue president Nick Rivers said the funding is expected to cover roughly 70 per cent of their operational costs.

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With a training budget of approximately $50,000 for their rapidly expanding crew, Rivers said he appreciated the funding but it wasn’t “the be all and end all.”

“We still have a lot of catching up to do funding-wise and our equipment still needs to be repaired quite often. We’ll be nowhere without the community supports and fundraising we rely on.”

Arrowsmith Search and Rescue is currently fundraising for a new headquarters in Hilliers. Their current space, with two bays and a classroom, is now far too small for the substantial team.

Rivers said they hope to have phase one of the build, which is expected to cost $500,000, finished by the end of 2019.

Nanaimo Search and Rescue is also still determining where their new home will be. Lease negotiations were started with the City of Nanaimo for property on Nanaimo Lakes Rd., but Trobridge said the organization is now looking at renovating their existing site.

It’s a shared facility on Fourth St. which lacks critical space for their vehicles and training.

In mid-2017, $1.2 million was set aside by Nanaimo SAR for the large facility. Trobridge said the building project wasn’t feasible with the funds they had, so they’re doing preliminary studies to see if they can renovate the current space.

Trobridge said it’s unlikely any funds received from the province would be used for the development.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit