Sauvetage Bénévole Outaouais Ottawa Volunteer Search and Rescue, a 2022 Defender Service Award Winner.
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00:00 [Music]
00:07 SVO-OVISAR or Softaj Beneval Utaway Ottawa Volunteer Search and Rescue
00:12 is a non-profit organization that focuses on prevention, search and rescue, and natural disaster relief.
00:18 They went missing about 8.30 p.m.
00:21 The family looked for them, didn't find them.
00:24 I volunteer with SVO because it is an opportunity for me to not only give back to the community,
00:29 but to be there with an individual and their family in their most urgent moments.
00:35 We're 100% volunteers, and SVO-OVISAR has become a huge part of my life.
00:43 It is the most meaningful thing that I've ever done.
00:47 Have a good day. Let's go find them.
00:49 [Music]
00:53 Winning the Defender Service Awards and the Defender 130 was just incredible.
00:59 It's made a huge difference to the team.
01:02 When we get out there, we have to rely on our equipment.
01:06 The Defender gives us a new capacity.
01:08 We can load eight people in if we want to, and load up a bunch of equipment and get to a search in record time.
01:16 Ours is pulling a 3,500-pound trailer right now on the highway.
01:20 You don't even notice it's there.
01:22 Our mobile command post is actually in the back of the vehicle right now.
01:26 I can run a search out of the Defender almost the same as I would out of our command post.
01:32 This is where the subjects were last seen.
01:35 We've already used it to drop members off in areas where other vehicles have struggled to get through.
01:40 It feels like it would climb anywhere a goat would go.
01:43 We were climbing on a slab of granite in a rainy day, and it didn't ever seem to phase the Defender 130.
01:50 I mean, it reads right on the dash what's the angle you're on.
01:53 So it's just incredible how much information is there on the screen.
01:57 I can hardly say enough about it.
01:59 It's such a satisfying thing when you can actually find somebody and bring them out.
02:06 While their family is waiting on the side of the road, wondering if they're ever going to see them again.
02:10 That's just a feeling that stays with you forever.
02:13 Any time that we successfully locate a missing person...
02:16 I know they went hiking with their son, and their son returned alone.
02:23 At the end of the day, you can step back and look through all the sweat, the blood, the tears, everything that's gone into it.
02:28 And there's that immense sense of pride at what we've been able to accomplish together.
02:32 Hey Franco, can you check the other side of the rock just there?
02:35 When you're Johnny on the spot, you get to find that lost person when that happens.
02:42 Man, that's incredible.
02:45 And for our first award, Ottawa Volunteer Search and Rescue.
02:50 Being involved in the Defender Service Awards was an opportunity for us to broaden our horizons and actually reach out and meet new people.
02:58 The support we got from the community through the voting process was huge as well.
03:01 I think we got more than we even thought was possible.
03:04 Why is it important for community support for a search and rescue team?
03:09 We are a non-profit charity, and so we need public support.
03:15 They're used to seeing our yellow jackets arrive, but the rest of the community got to know us a little bit better, and that's really nice.
03:23 For the Defender Service Awards, it's really important that people take the time to vote, because all of the organizations that are charities all need money.
03:31 It's hard, especially now, to get grants. It's hard to get donations.
03:36 All the services they provide are extremely useful and valued by the communities that they represent.
03:41 Six non-profits or charities across North America are going to get one of these vehicles that can really help them accomplish what they've wanted to do.
03:52 It's just been really great to be a part of such a positive organization.
03:56 [Music]