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During 2020, the Society and Station 106 received donations from –

Women Who Wine –  https://womenwhowine.ca/    Their mission is –

“Connecting and empowering women of various business acumens 

in our community through meaningful networking events and

collectively giving back to our community through quarterly

Community Giving Events “

Their efforts and fine work were very evident on December 11th, 2020, when Women Who Wine hosted a quarterly Community Giving Event, for the first time in a 100% virtual setting, which went really well. After watching our presentation, members of Women Who Wine nominated our Station 106 to receive funding for our much needed Rescue Base, in the amount of $3860.

December 18th, Kailee Ramsell, of the Women Who Wine, met Station Leader, Rob Sutherland, and Bruce Weicker, President of the Shuswap Lifeboat Society on board Tolonen, presenting us a cheque.

More info on the Rescue Base to be added to the Website soon.

The term of Station Leader (SL) with all RCMSAR Stations is two years.

This past November, our SL Fred Banham advised he would like to step away from the role for a period.

Fred continues as one of our Mission Coxswains. For your dedication and countless hours as Station Leader, a tremendous Thank You.

A familiar face stepped forward again to fulfill the Station Leader role.

During our recent AGM elections, Rob Sutherland was nominated and  acclaimed as Station Leader.

Rob, many will recall, was our first SL when Station 106 Shuswap was initiated way way back in 2012. We have grown a lot since then, now with two Rescue Boats, but in another respect, we have come full circle.

Station 106 was very pleased to receive this donation earlier this year.

Twin Anchors owner Todd Kyllo said “he and many others are glad to have the RCMSAR volunteers out on the water (as they) have much better equipment and training to assist the paramedics.”

“Along with the houseboat companies”, Kyllo said “the RCMSAR station is appreciated by other boaters and cabin owners. Their presence on the lake is especially welcome as there have been fewer RCMP and coast guard patrols on the lake in recent years.”

“The donation will help keep the station’s two boats out on the water by helping to cover fuel costs” said Pat Gau of the Shuswap Lifeboat Society.

2020 has been one of the busiest search and rescue seasons on the lakes for Station 106 Shuswap, with the cost at the diesel pumps very high.

Station 106 Shuswap continues to move forward with building a facility to house and protect our rescue vessels – a floating Rescue Base.

The facility will contain a crew ready room where responding volunteers can gear up and prepare for missions embarked upon.

The 2nd floor above the rescue vessels …

– has dedicated classroom floorspace, both for Station 106’s internal training use, as well as our plan in the future to provide Boating Safety education and awareness courses.

– will contain consoles for radar and navigation training in a virtual setting, which will reduce the use and expense of vessels being used on the water.

– will be useful also for holding meetings, and community accessible, when and as available.

Thanks to a grant from the Shuswap Community Foundation, the design phase and engineered plans are completed. The Society is now discussing with community partners how best to structure construction financing.

If an organization or any person is interested helping us with this endeavour, please email us at station106@rcmsar.com

Since originally posted to the Blog, a question has arose about how the Shuswap Lifeboat Society interlaces with RCMSAR Station 106 Shuswap.

Everything operational – crews, vessels, missions = Station 106 Shuswap. Crew – volunteer recruitment, new crew trained to Canadian Coast Guard criteria, recurrent vessel operation and navigational aid assessments. Vessels – maintenance and upkeep. Missions – scheduling crew, and safely performing SAR missions.

The Society is the financial and administrative support for the Station – promotion, fundraising, financial records, and enacting policy sheets.

Society members must be members of Station 106. The Society is able to issue charitable tax receipts for donations. To serve on the SLS Board, a person does not need to be an active crew member. Any person who has an interest in the activities of RCMSAR Station 106 Shuswap, either as crew or with the Board, are always most welcome to join us.

Send us an email at the address found on the Home Page.

Current SLS Board, as of the recent Annual General Meeting, are: .

Bruce Weicker, President

Pat Gau, Vice President

Marie Gray, Secretary Treasurer

Cliff Doherty, Director At Large

Dave Harvey, Director At Large

John Creighton, Director At Large

Rob Sutherland, Station Leader ( ex-officio position )

Alice Lloyd, Financial Services ( ex-officio position )

At the Annual General Meeting of the Shuswap Lifeboat Society on December 4, 2019, a new Board of Officers and Directors was elected.

Check our a recent podcast from “No Harm Health and Safety” featuring Pat Gau speaking on the use of drones for Search and Rescue.

USE OF DRONES WITH PAT GAU

This podcast is also available on our Video and Podcast Links page.

We have undertaken a feasibility study to determine the viability of a marine training centre to be coupled with our future boathouse facility.  Through grants from the Shuswap Watershed Council and the BC Rural Dividend Fund we have contracted the services of Dave Witt to conduct this study.  If shown to be feasible, the training centre would be able to sponsor or host a variety of marine training options for the interior of British Columbia.

RCMSAR has garnered a national award for Water Safety Program with the Kids Don’t Float iniative.  A number of new kiosks have been added in the last two years across the many stations.  Leading the way has been our program here on Shuswap and Mara Lakes.  See our page ‘Kids Don’t Float – But PFDs Do!’ to get our complete listing of kioks.