The Oliver Osoyoos Search and Rescue Fundraiser is looking to build a new home and know it’s going to have to raise some significant funds to reach that goal.
With this in mind, the organization will be hosting its first ever Banquet and Dance Fundraiser, with the official name for this event being “Searching For a Hall Banquet.” The event is scheduled for Saturday, June 14.
The evening will include a dinner at the Watermark Beach Resort in Osoyoos, a silent auction, 50/50 draw, door prizes and a disc jockey spinning great tunes to dance the night away, said Kyle Fossett, a longtime volunteer with the organization and organizer of this inaugural fundraising event.
The goal of the fundraiser is to draw awareness to the services provided by Oliver Osoyoos Search and Rescue (OOSAR) and continue the push to build a new hall on the site of their current vehicle compound at the Oliver Airport, said Fossett.
Currently, volunteer members meet at the Community Services Building in Oliver, while all equipment is stored at the airport compound, which isn’t ideal for an organization that deals with situations where every second counts in the search and rescue business, said Fossett.
While the Community Services Building has served the team adequately for a number of years, the number of calls continues to grow as do the number of volunteers and this means the team is in need of a larger location with more office, training, meeting and storage space, said Fossett.
“It’s just not the ideal situation,” he said. “It was great when we had a smaller team of volunteers and didn’t respond to an overwhelming amount of calls, but we’ve grown substantially and we need a building where we can store and access our equipment in a hurry and have some space for our members to dry off their gear and things like that.
“We do need a standalone building and we need one with a garage for our trucks and enough room for all of our equipment.”
Fossett, who has been a member since December of 2010, said there are currently 30 volunteers members on the OOSAR roster, with 20 currently active and ready to respond to any emergency.
There are also six members-in-training who are expected to complete their six months of training by the end of June, he said.
Fossett said the membership with OOSAR are proud of the work they do and the time has come to build this new centre and fundraising events like this one are crucial.
“We continue to apply for grants from the province and we’ve had a lot of help, but we realize we can move this (getting a new building) along a lot faster if we’re able to help out and generate some of our own funds towards the cause,” he said. “This is our first fundraising dinner and banquet and obviously we hope to get a good response from the community and make this an annual event.”
An example of some of the calls OOSAR members have responded to over the past several months include looking for missing skiers up near Mount Baldy Ski Area, assisting B.C. Ambulance Service and RCMP personnel on calls, helping look for hikers reported missing in the bush and responding to calls for boaters reported missing or in trouble as part of the swift water rescue team.
Tickets for the event are $60 apiece or $440 for a table of eight. Tickets are available by contacting any team member or by sending an email to [email protected].
