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Mennonite Disaster Service Plays Crucial Part In Search & Rescue Missions In NWA Region

CARROLL COUNTY (KFSM)- There’s a religious community in Northwest Arkansas that’s also a crucial part of the search and rescue system in the region. The Mennoni...

CARROLL COUNTY (KFSM)- There’s a religious community in Northwest Arkansas that’s also a crucial part of the search and rescue system in the region.

The Mennonite community in Carroll County has an established search and rescue unit that’s part of the national Mennonite Disaster Service nonprofit. Locally, the unit is an integral part of Tri-County Search and Rescue, an organization made up of law enforcement agencies and emergency responders in Madison, Newton and Carroll Counties as a way to pool resources on search and rescue missions.

Lori McConnell, the coordinator at the Madison County Department of Emergency Management and one of the founders of Tri-County SAR, has worked with Mennonite Disaster Service since 2010, when the MDS unit joined Tri-County.

“They will put their lives on the back burner to do what they’re compelled to do, so you know when you call the Mennonites when we have a situation, the Mennonites will come and they will search,” McConnell said. “Within their group there are 30 to 35 folks that belong to the Mennonite Disaster Service search and rescue team, so they provided a lot of the manpower. They also provided a lot of the technical expertise.”

The MDS unit specializes in water rescues and underwater searches.

“Something that’s special about the Mennonite Disaster Service is they have a boat that not a lot of other search and rescue departments around here have,” Benton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Keshia Guyll said. “It’s a flat bottom boat. It's equipped with the best sonar. They can get in tight spaces, say swim areas, to run sonar, whereas some of our bigger boats from the sheriff’s office can’t.”

That equipment was put to work in March when the Benton County Sheriff’s Office requested help to search for the body of Stacey Hernandez at Beaver Lake. The MDS team was also in Carroll County around the same time looking for the body of George Pshyny whose SUV was swept down Leatherwood Creek after powerful storms.

According to Al Kroeker, the Director of Region III for Mennonite Disaster Service, which is made up of 14 states including Arkansas, the MDS search and rescue unit in Northwest Arkansas is a unique part of the national nonprofit organization that operates in the U.S. and Canada. Normally, MDS teams respond following major disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes to repair and rebuild homes.

“They don’t build and repair homes, but they have a huge impact on people’s lives and they do rebuild hope,” Kroeker said.

Kroeker said the national MDS organization, based out of Pennsylvania, fully supports the Northwest Arkansas search and rescue unit and offered to cover their training costs, but the men starting the SAR team turned it down.

“That really, really, really emphasizes the commitment they have put into this,” Kroeker said. “All of the training they have gone to, the time and dollars they’ve spent on training is their own money.”

Kroeker said MDS connected with a charitable foundation that offered to fund the boat, sonar, motor and trailer the SAR unit needed. The sonar is able to detect objects 80 feet below the surface of the water. The Northwest Arkansas team also has additional equipment that allows them to see more than 100 feet underwater.

McConnell said Tri-County SAR also outfitted the Mennonite search and rescue unit with communications equipment that includes a 30-feet high antenna and radios that are handed out to team leaders on search missions, as well as a response trailer to store it all.

McConnell and MDS both work closely with Glenn Wheeler, a deputy at the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, who is also a coordinator for Tri-County SAR.

“Newton County is one of the busiest search and rescue counties, probably in the nation,” Wheeler said.

According to Wheeler, all the counties involved with Tri-County SAR are poorly funded and sparsely populated, so the SAR organization developed out of mutual need. MDS came on board later, but Wheeler said they are now a major part of Tri-County.

“They are our go-to people for our tough missions that really need hardworking, dedicated folks that are willing to give it their all,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler also explained how Tri-County SAR works during a typical mission whether it's a possible drowning or a fall off of a bluff. First the situation is assessed by the National Park Service and a Newton County deputy, then Wheeler will contact the other Tri-County SAR team leaders using an automated calling system, and each team will bring in their resources as needed.

Wheeler, McConnell and Guyll all agree that aside from the equipment and the expertise, the Mennonites also bring something a lot more valuable to search and rescue missions.

“There’s times when you’re up 12, 15 hours, very little sleep, very little rest,” McConnell said. “It’s already an emotional situation and they’re just calming.”

Wheeler said the MDS unit always does whatever is asked of them.

“They’re just wonderful to work with,” he said. “And that also inspires our other folks that are out, and we work with a lot of good people, but when you have those guys with their positive attitudes no matter what, it’s pretty contagious.”

In 2014, the Northwest Arkansas MDS unit responded to 17 rescues that added up to 924 volunteer hours.

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