Chilliwack – Chilliwack SAR – November 15 UPDATE – In a social media post, Taryn Dixon FVRD Area H Director – Do you remember all those reminder posts about voting for Chilliwack Search and Rescue ? Well it turns out it paid off – they won the Defender. Great job everyone ! Congratulations Chilliwack Search and Rescue.
Chilliwack SAR won the contest of a brand-new Land Rover Defender 130, fully customized for our team’s needs, and $30,000 USD as a cash donation.
From Chilliwack SAR social media:
We won it!
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Last night at the Defender Service Awards gala in California we were officially announced as the winner of the Search & Rescue category!
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Early in 2026 we’ll get to customize a brand-new Land Rover Defender 130 to suit our needs and receive $30,000 USD to help us purchase vital equipment to keep you safe in the backcountry. The Defender will help improve our response capabilities here at home and while providing mutual aid to neighbouring areas with @kentharrisonsar, @hope_searchandrescue, and @cfvsar.
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This win is your win! We asked for your votes and the overwhelming support from our community was inspiring. If you ever need emergency help, this Defender will now roll up with eight of our volunteer members to provide life saving supports where and when you need them most.
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Thank you’s go out to BC teams @pembertonsearchandrescue and @sunshinecoastsar for representing this corner of the SAR world so well during this competition. Also, thanks to @justabitfarther for crafting our socials content and keeping everyone engaged and voting daily.
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Finally, to @defender, @chase, and @pelican, thank you for hosting this incredible competition and helping volunteer organizations get the support and resources needed to continue making positive differences in our communities.”
Up, over, and onwards!
Instagram reaction is here https://www.instagram.com/p/DRIw9zpkmeM/
A statement from the Land Rover contest organizer is forthcoming.
OCTOBER 27 UPDATE – Chilliwack and Pemberton Search and Rescue are the top two finalists for the Land Rover defender Service Award. The Winner unveiled November 15 in California.
Our deserving neighbour at @pembertonsearchandrescue is the other top-two finalist! So, whoever wins, the Land Rover and cash are coming home to B.C. to improve our shared ability to serve B.C. residents in their times of need. The outpouring of support from our Chilliwack community, and beyond, during this campaign has been humbling and inspiring for all of us and we can’t thank you enough!
OCTOBER 8 UPDATE – Chilliwack Search and Rescue has been selected as a finalist for the Land Rover Defender Service Awards.
SAR stand a chance of winning a brand-new Land Rover Defender 130, fully customized for our team’s needs, and $30,000 USD as a cash donation.
As BC’s fourth-busiest SAR team with over 100 calls a year, this robust SUV will help improve response times in technical terrain to get to you faster.
The winner will be decided by online public vote between Oct 3rd and Oct 19th. Everyone can cast one vote per day.
From Chilliwack SAR : we stand a chance of winning a brand-new Land Rover Defender 130, fully customized for our team’s needs and $30,000 USD as a cash donation.
We are incredibly excited about this opportunity and we are hoping to gather as much support from the Chilliwack community and beyond as possible. The winner will be decided by a public vote that will take place online between Oct 3rd and Oct 19th, with any individual being allowed to cast one vote per day. The challenge for us will be to engage as many people as we can to cast a vote each day, hence we are graciously asking for your support!
To stand a chance of winning we need as many willing partners to engage their social media platforms and email databases to vote for us, ideally on a daily basis. We realize this is a big ask but this is such a great opportunity to improve the response capabilities of our team for no cost to us or the Chilliwack community that we feel we really need to pull out all the stops.
The video that we submitted for our entry can be found here: https://youtu.be/ctqIlxWCE5U
The voting link that will be live from Oct 3rd to Oct 19th is: https://www.landrover.ca/en/experiences/sponsorship/defender-service-awards/vote/search-and-rescue.html
