NSR needs more funds to keep back-country caches stocked
Posted October 11, 2015 9:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – With a record-year for call-outs on the North Shore mountains, North Shore Rescue is hoping to get more funding for its back-country caches and the request comes as demand for the organization continues to climb.
Team Leader Mike Danks is the first to admit they get a lot of community support and donations, but the caches are key to their rescue operations. They’re filled with equipment like medical supplies, clothing, blankets and food and there are only 10 placed strategically across the mountains.
“These caches are our safety net. We can very remote, very quickly and if one of our members gets injured, we can access these caches to get life-saving equipment.”
Danks says they’re a little worried about what’s expected to be a busy winter.
“But I feel really good about the discussion that’s going on and I really hope people are starting to get the message. I talk to lots of people that are out there hiking and they see people that are unprepared or they’re wearing flip-flops and people are actually talking to them about that. They’re not just walking by and laughing to themselves, they actually say, ‘Hey, you know what? Next time you should probably think about wearing boots or you should have a back-pack.’ Hopefully through public awareness we can change what people are doing in the backcountry.”
Last year, someone repeatedly broke into emergency bins, stealing up to $40,000 worth of stuff. There are now commercial-grade locks on them to prevent that.
Meantime, the NSR is asking for a meeting with the provincial government to figure out how to handle the uptick in calls this year. One of the suggested solutions is paying the organization’s members, who volunteer on their own time.
“It’s more about having stable funds on a yearly basis moving forward. As it stands right now, we don’t have stable funding for the rescue team. When a business looks at its budget for the year, they have ‘X’ amount. When we look at our budget every year, we look at things we can apply for and we look at fundraising.”
The NSR’s next move is to have a meeting with BC Search and Rescue which is working on a final proposal to hand in to the provincial government for help.
