The call for help went out.
Rossland Search and Rescue was in need of radios to help their members communicate when in the field and on rescue forays.
And the Health Care Thrift Store answered.
The ever giving group of volunteers at the city’s second hand store on Washington Street bequeathed Search and Rescue with the $5,000 they needed to secure six top-of-the-line radios, complete with all the fixings.
Search and Rescue’s longest serving member, Graham Jones, said they had made a pitch to the thrift store board for funding earlier in the year, and their pitch was accepted.
The donation helps complete the circle of required gear and technology for the community-based group.
One year ago Search and Rescue purchased a new emergency response vehicle—something the crew has never had—to compliment their fully equipped mobile command trailer.
But both units were not equipped with hand held radios that volunteers needed to stay safe and adequately do their jobs.
“So if we jump into the truck and go and we send people into the field we need to give them radios to help them stay in contact,” Jones said. “We go out into some pretty horrendous conditions, so (these radios) will help us stay in contact, and stay safe.”
The money allowed search and rescue to purchase six radios and charging systems as well as spare battery packs.
“Groups like ours, we can’t function without the generosity of different organizations within the community,” said Jones.
Raising money is always an issue for Search and Rescue to keep up-to-date with training and to purchase the technology to keep members safe in the backcountry.