A proud division of Chavivim — serving communities since 2018
Search & Rescue · NYSDEC Certified

When someone is lost, we’re already on our way.

Friendly, trained volunteers ready around the clock — helping lost and injured hikers get home safe. A community-driven team that trains every second Sunday, year-round, so a real call finds a crew that’s already ready.

NYSDEC Certified 110+ hours of training per technician 24/7 dispatch
Call dispatch · (845) 920-2200 Join the team
Our Mission

A community team that trains year-round so it’s ready in any season.

Chavivim Search & Rescue is a community-driven volunteer team specializing in wilderness navigation, medical response, and technical rescue. Our technicians complete NYSDEC’s 110+ hour certification program — the same standard the State coordinates with on any major search.

We train every second Sunday. Field navigation. Classroom response. Cross-division drills across the Catskills and the Hudson Valley. So when a call comes in — a hiker overdue from a walk, a child missing from a bungalow colony, a search team needed before nightfall — the crew that shows up isn’t learning on the job.

What sets us apart

Real people. Real training. Ready right now.

Real people, ready to help.

Trained volunteers from every corner of the community — on standby for calls across the state. When dispatch goes out, the people who answer are your neighbors.

EMT & medically trained on-site.

Our SAR technicians are medically trained, and an EMT is on the scene of every search. Qualified care doesn’t wait for transport — it arrives with the search line.

24/7 ready.

Gear staged, radios on, maps ready. When the call comes in — day or night, summer or winter — we’re moving within the hour.

One Network · One Dispatch

700+ volunteers. One number.
Any division.

Chavivim isn’t one chapter — it’s a network of 700+ trained volunteer responders across every active division, dispatched from one central line. When a search needs more, we don’t make calls. We dispatch.

Our NYSDEC-certified SAR technicians lead every operation. But a real search line needs more than the certified core — perimeter holders, ground searchers, supply runners, drivers, light support. Any Chavivim member, from any division, can plug into a search the moment dispatch decides it needs more boots on the ground.

700+ Network volunteers
1 Dispatch line, every division
24/7 Around the clock, every season
One number reaches the network · (845) 920-2200
KJ-500 SAR Command Center vehicle staged at a search exercise Network Asset
KJ-500 SAR Command Center The mobile command post staged at every search — comms, mapping, dispatch coordination, and on-scene briefing space for the whole network, regardless of which division the call comes through.
NYSDEC Volunteer Search & Rescue patch
State-Coordinated Response

NYSDEC Volunteer Search & Rescue.

Our team holds the NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) Volunteer Search & Rescue certification — the credential the State coordinates with on missing-person searches across its forests, parks, and wilderness areas. When DEC Forest Rangers stand up an incident, our certified technicians integrate directly into State command.

Out in the Field

What an actual search day looks like.

Cross-division drills in the Catskills, classroom response sessions, line searches through powerline corridors and undergrowth, command staging at the SAR truck. The same images you’d see at a live call.

Chavivim SAR team on a search-and-rescue exercise
SAR search line moving through a powerline corridor in the Catskills
KJ-500 command center staged with an ATV at a Catskills training
Chavivim SAR search team in the field
SAR team moving single-file through the forest on a training search
Chavivim SAR members in a classroom training session
Inside the KJ-500 SAR command center during a Catskills training
Chavivim SAR command staging area
Cross-division SAR team staging in the Catskills for a search exercise
Chavivim SAR team gathered for a briefing
Read SAR stories from the field
Help us keep the trails safe

Two ways to stand with the team.

Every search runs on two things: trained volunteers and the equipment they carry in. Join one. Fund the other. Either one keeps the next hiker getting home safe.

Join the team Donate to SAR
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