2011 Awards and Recognitions

Thanks to all of our dedicated team members, we had a wonderful year in 2011. We celebrated the close of our 40th year of service with a year end holiday party graciously hosted by our recruiting officer, John Mandish. Many thanks to John and the folks at Baker & Mckenzie for allowing us to gather together in their space.

The efforts of every team member and trainee make what we do possible. This past year we recognized a few people on our team who far went above and beyond the regular call of duty.

Searcher of the Year

The 2011 searcher of the year award was presented to Ethan Frantz. In addition to his willingness to assist in our team trainings, Ethan volunteered 166 search hours to the unit in 2011. Ethan is always willing to help newer trainees in the field and

his role as Operations Leader allowed BAMRU to participate on several searches this year. Without someone stepping up to perform this vital role, we cannot deploy team members on a search. Ethan has also been elected to serve as the team's Executive Officer. We are all looking forward to a great year ahead under his leadership.

Member of the Year

Blake Gleason was awarded the member of the year award for 2011. Blake organized and taught multiple trainings this past year, some very technical and in alpine environments which requires a great deal of attention, logistical details, and long hours to make sure that we were all learning the needed skills for technical alpine rescues while maintaining a high level of safety. With searches and trainings combined, Blake volunteered a total of 668 hours to the unit in 2011. With seemingly endless energy he is often the first to volunteer for needed roles, to host skills days at his house, and is one of the newly elected members of our Board of Directors.

Recognition

In addition to Ethan and Blake, BAMRU is very grateful to the following members for their exceptional service to our team:

Sarah Roth: served as executive officer in 2011 and helped us to have a record year in fund raising.

Will Gilmore: BAMRU's secretary whose countless hours behind the scenes is bringing our team a new level of organization.

And to the following for their year's on the team:

Wayne Behrens (25yrs)

Tom Lass (20 yrs)

Gerald Stone (10yrs)

Bill Parker (5yrs)

Ben Yaffe (5yrs)

We are very lucky to have such wonderful teammates and look forward to getting to know more skilled searchers during the 2012 recruiting season!