Get Involved

Abraham Lincoln said, “Next to creating a life, the finest thing a man can do is save one.” Helping to save a human life and return the missing to their worried loved ones is one of life's most deeply emotional undertakings. Joining a search and rescue (SAR) team can give you the opportunity to experience this amazing feeling yourself. 

Plus, volunteering on a search and rescue team is a great way to give something positive back to your friends and neighbors.

Membership in NESAR is open to anyone 18 years of age and older. You should be comfortable outdoors and willing to get dirty, bruised, and tired while braving the thick mountain laurel, steep slopes, and buggy swamps that we encounter on most searches. And, be prepared to face all kinds of weather, night or day.

You will receive training in map and compass, GPS, First Aid, CPR, survival skills, ropes and knots, and so much more. You will also be asked to complete three online FEMA courses and, eventually, the SARTech II course and exam, sponsored by the National Association for Search and Rescue.

Our members are strictly volunteer and do not receive financial compensation for their services. You will be required to provide your own basic outdoor survival gear, weather-appropriate clothing, and terrain-appropriate footwear. 

You don't need to have any previous emergency services experience. There are many different roles required to operate a SAR team and you do not need a dog to join.

If you love the outdoors, enjoy a challenge, and want to serve your community in a way few people can, join us for a day of training and see what we're all about!

Volunteering even a few hours of your time can have a huge impact in preparing a dog (and it's handler!) for real-life search missions. A mission-qualified K9 usually spends hundreds of hours in practice searches before it does its first actual search mission, and training continues for the entire operational life of the dog. Volunteer subjects satisfy two critical training needs:

• Volunteer subjects free up the other K9 handlers to focus on training. The handlers don’t have to lose time in swapping between handling their dogs and hiding for others’ dogs. This permits all the handlers and their K9s to log more training time.

• Finding unfamiliar subjects teaches the dogs to look forward to finding strangers. They learn to expect fun and games from anyone that they find. On a real search, a search dog must have no reluctance whatsoever in approaching a lost person. A steady stream of “strangers” during trainings can overcome any reluctance that the dog might have.

So, if hanging out in Nature, playing with lovable pooches, and giving back to your community sounds like your idea of fun, sign up now!

Even though we don’t charge for our services, it takes resources—from money to manpower—to keep our volunteer rescuers in the field. All of our equipment, operating costs, and specialized training is funded by private donations or by our volunteers themselves—not tax dollars, as many people assume. Nor do our volunteers receive any financial compensation for their efforts. 

So, a donation to NESAR is a real opportunity for you to make a difference. Luckily, it only takes a click to support NESAR's mission with a safe, easy PayPal donation (you don't even need a Paypal account)!

Help ensure that finances are never an obstacle to reuniting a family, by making your own donation today. With the support of generous individuals like you, we can continue our life-saving efforts and long tradition of civic commitment.