For the previous three years, Land Rover has held the Defender Service Awards, an initiative that acknowledges charitable organizations for his or her contributions to their neighborhood. In 2023, there have been six award classes, with the winner of every class incomes a personalized Land Rover Defender 130 car and a $25,000 USD money prize. The six awards included:
- Animal, Wildlife & Marine Welfare Award
- Group Companies Award
- Search, Rescue & Emergency Assist Companies Award
- Veteran & Civil Servant Outreach Award
- Out of doors Accessibility & Schooling Award
- Defender Service Honourees Award
Squamish Search and Rescue Society made the short-list of nominees for the Search, Rescue & Emergency Assist Companies Award alongside Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group (Pittsburgh, PA), Sources in Search and Rescue, Inc. (Monroe, CT), Taos Search and Rescue (Taos, NM), and Texas Search and Rescue (Wimberley, TX).
As defined by the Defender Service Awards, Squamish Search and Rescue is a “100% volunteer-run group that gives floor and inland water search and rescue companies, wilderness public security and emergency companies on the unceded conventional territory of the Squamish Nation in British Columbia. With over 6,400 process hours per 12 months, their 80-member group is likely one of the busiest in Canada, with a response space that covers an unlimited and various terrain — swift white water rivers, excessive alpine peaks and glaciers, huge rock faces, intensive mountain bike and mountaineering trails — necessitating a big selection of rescue response varieties. They incorporate a mix of apparatus, coaching and experience in excessive alpine, avalanche, rope, helicopter long-line and swift water rescue self-discipline to save lots of lives.”
From September 15 to October 4, the general public may vote on-line for his or her organization-of-choice from the the group of short-listed nominees. With their big voting assist, Squamish SAR and Texas SAR made it to the top-2 and had been invited to attend the 2023 Defender Service Awards ceremony held on November 12 in Somerville, Texas.
With the very best variety of votes throughout all 5 nominees, Squamish SAR had been awarded the Search, Rescue & Emergency Assist Companies Award, successful a personalized Defender 130, a $25,000 USD money prize, and lots of in-kind Pelican merchandise valued at over $8,000 USD.
“To everybody who voted for us from Squamish, Sea to Sky, and past together with the Search and Rescue communities throughout the nation, we’re overwhelmed with gratitude,” stated Squamish SAR on Instagram. “It was really a group effort. Profitable the Defender 130 is a game-changer, enhancing our response capabilities to achieve even additional and extra distant locations.”
Defender Service Awards 2023
