With the largest group of recruits recently becoming full members of Cochrane Search and Rescue (CSAR) – and an injection this week of more than $40,000 in funds – the future looks bright for the locally-based emergency service.
“We’ve got great things in store for the next year,” said CSAR president Aline Garant. “It’s encouraging to see that our hard work is paying off.”
CSAR formed in 2001 and has since been deployed to help in countless operations – conducting missing person, evidence and downed airplane searches in Cochrane, Morley, Banff, Water Valley, Canmore and more, as well as providing support to RCMP, emergency services and other regional rescue organizations.
Two weeks ago, 18 members-in-training earned their bright orange jackets and officially became operational. Then, earlier this week, the Monumental Tournament of Aces – an annual charity goofy golf game put on by the Rotary Club of Cochrane and the Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Memorial Foundation – shared some of their spoils with the CSAR crew: $41,700 to be exact.
Garant said the dollar amount opens up a wealth of possibilities for the self-funded, volunteer organization.
“This was such a shock to us. We did not expect this number. It is so heartwarming … for them to have our back and to believe in what we do,” she said. “When people give us their dollars … their dollar is so far-reaching. It’s a ripple effect.”
This is the second year in a row the tournament has decided to support CSAR, and an ongoing partnership is in the works to make the annual fundraising event a more continued source of funding.
The relationship is one of a few Garant said the group has worked hard over the last five years to become a more professional unit and to build trust with the community as a whole.
“What we’ve done in the last four or five years is … become that reliable resource to the tasking agencies. They know that we’re there, they know they can count on us,” she said. “We’re being used more ... and it’s giving us a renewed energy and a renewed focus.”
Now, as they look ahead to the next five years, an integral item on their list of priorities is to truly put down their roots.
Currently, members meet in a crowded and unheated building on the Cochrane Ag Grounds. Some of their expensive equipment is stored outside, where it’s not safe or protected from the elements.
It’s the third temporary location CSAR has used since 2012 – and Garant said they’re ready to graduate to a more permanent home.
“That will be a big focus for us,” she said. “Looking for permanency.”
Long-time member and CSAR trainer Andy Potton said a piece of affordable land in or near Cochrane is the major missing piece of the puzzle.
“The land piece – that’s the issue,” he said, adding it’s something he hopes to secure in the near future. “We have no interest in going elsewhere. That’s truly what this organization needs and what it deserves, given all that they do for the town of Cochrane and the community here to the border of B.C.”
Garant agrees, saying she’s proud of the strength of the search and rescue crew and the family they’ve created that she knows will only get stronger as the group continues to grow.
“Everybody has a place. Everybody has their contribution to give and that’s what makes us one well-rounded, well-jelled unit,’ she said.
“We’re a real mixed bag of nuts … and it’s the beauty of the organization.”
