By Delcenia Cosman

Reporter, Homer Independent Press

A fundraiser held at the Angry Salmon in Anchor Point Saturday supported the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team’s efforts to obtain new equipment vital to its work.

The Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team operates statewide and is the only team in Alaska that meets all Federal Emergency Management Agency  Type 1 Dive Rescue Team requirements — the highest capability classification for underwater search, rescue and recovery operations. 

It also is entirely reliant on donations.

“We don’t have any budget from the government or anything to speak of, so we just beg for everything,” dive team member Adam Hays said. 

Donations directly support the team’s missions, as well as fund maintenance and replacement of equipment as necessary. 

Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery currently is raising funds to replace its remote-operated vehicle — a critical piece of equipment that Hays said keeps dive team members safe and makes them more effective.

The ROV that the dive team seeks to replace was damaged during a mission conducted last year to recover the remains of the Maynard family, whose boat capsized in Kachemak Bay in August 2024. 

The dive team has been getting by using low-end “recreational versions” of their main ROV. These, however, are not sustainable for long-term use.

“Electronics have a really hard time operating under pressure … the further down you go, the more pressure there is on it, and they just break a lot,” Hays said. “These (recreational) ones are okay, but a real professional-grade one is pretty critical for what we do.

“There are a lot of places that we go to dive that’s just simply not safe. It’s much easier and safer to use (an ROV) with a sonar, find what you’re looking for, then send divers down…. There’s a lot of problems that this solves and keeps us out of danger.”

The dive team needs $200,000 to replace its main ROV.

The Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce and Sarah Beller Real Estate sponsored and organized Saturday’s fundraiser. Community members and local businesses donated prizes for a raffle. In addition, donation boxes and dive team merchandise sales were featured. All proceeds went to the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team. 

Dive team founder and president Jeremy Lilly said via email Monday that the fundraiser brought in about $16,360 in raffle ticket sales. 

The dive team currently has almost $32,000 dedicated to purchasing a new ROV. According to Lilly, a donor has pledged a matching gift when they reach $50,000. 

“Whatever is left over after we can buy the ROV goes into keeping the team running (fuel, mission (costs), trying to keep equipment serviced (and) repaired, etc.,” Lilly wrote.

He added that Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery is working to put together similar events to Saturday’s fundraiser. Get Moving Mat-Su, a nonprofit organization to motivate Mat-Su residents to be more physically active, is raising funds for the dive team through its events. The team is also looking for compies to help fundraise, be regular sponsors or provide matching donations.

“Basically everything helps us,” Lilly wrote.

Established in 2016, the dive team is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that focuses on public water safety in addition to rescue and recovery work. It has about a dozen active members, with additional people in reserve that can be called on. It is activated by the Alaska Department of Public Safety. 

Over the past 10 years, Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery has responded to more than 110 missions. Hays said that just this month, the team recovered its 100th person, from Little Willow Creek near Willow, in what he called “a really somber milestone.”

On Tuesday, the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team received its third Mel Nading Search and Rescue Award, which “recognizes the exemplary service of ASARA member volunteers performing search and rescue operations either on an individual or team level in difficult, dangerous, or complex situations while going above and beyond the call of duty associated with routine SAR missions,” for its recovery of the Maynard family’s remains last year. 

Learn more about the dive team on its website or Facebook page.