Nick Rivers has spent a decade volunteering with Arrowsmith Search and Rescue, and is now asking others to consider joining.
He’s president of ASAR and spends a significant chunk of his time volunteering — 100 or so hours per month.
“That’s more than would be expected of our average member of the organization,” he said. “30 [hours] a year is your absolute bare minimum, no one has an issue meeting that, most people meet that by March.”
It takes two years to go through the training needed to get your universal basic ground search and rescue certification — provided free at the hall in Qualicum Beach.
“When I joined, I actually knew nothing about search and rescue, it didn’t even cross my mind that it was in the community,” he said. “Sometimes there are those ones that you maybe don’t find the person, or it doesn’t end the way you want it to, but for the most part it’s pretty fun.”
ASAR is completely volunteer-run and is responsible for all land and inland water searches and rescues from Cook Creek to Lantzville, up to the east end of Cameron Lake and to the islands of Lasqueti and Jedidiah.
READ MORE: Arrowsmith Search and Rescue busy in recent weeks
Rivers said there’s different levels of involvement, so anyone who is interested should come to the open house and see if they might be a good fit.
“It’s a pretty phenomenal thing to really be a part of, when you see and talk with families of missing individuals or injured individuals and you kind of get to be a part of how that goes,” said Rivers. “I think it’s a really humbling experience.”
Anyone who thinks ASAR might be for them can attend their open house on Dec.18 at the Arrowsmith Search and Rescue Hall at 3237 Alberni Hwy at 7 p.m.