BAMRU looks for and helps missing and injured members of our community of all ages, whoever and wherever they may be, including in urban, suburban and wilderness environments. In 2012, BAMRU members volunteered over 10,000 hours and participated in 25 searches covering 30 operational periods.

BAMRU members donate their time to the community for emergency operations and related training. Their greatest joy is a successful operation.

"The moment you give a child back to her mother, who never knew if she would see that child again, really makes the early morning trainings, the long slogs thru mud and rain, all worth it." BAMRU on NPR: www.bit.ly/Rx4LyZ.

More info on BAMRU activities is at http://bamru.blogspot.com.

Because donations are a necessity to help BAMRU function effectively, we are asking you, a member of the community we serve, to consider making a donation of any amount in support of the work we do.

One of our greatest and immediate needs is to replace our two-wheel drive truck. After 14 years and 215,000 + miles, it has reached the end of it’s effective service with our team. This truck is our mobile cache on which we rely to carry all of our ropes, rigging, and medical gear to and from search assignments up, down, and across the state in every condition. A functioning truck directly affects our ability to carry out our mission. We have estimated the cost of a new truck as approximately $75,000. We are happy to provide more details regarding our truck needs if you would like. bamru.info@gmail.com

No payment is expected for our services. Substantially all of our expenditures go directly to fund searches, trainings, and support supplies and equipment. We have no paid employees, consultants, contractors or agents - all of our members are volunteers who donate their own personal time, personal gear, and personal contributions.

Recent searches include missing persons in Redwood City, Pacifica, Santa Cruz, La Honda, and Marin and Trinity Counties. Our team searched for missing missing children, elderly persons, and hikers in Yosemite National Park, Inyo County, Carmel (Monterey County), and San Mateo County. BAMRU was searched for overdue hunters in Bear Valley (Alpine County), a missing skier Desolation Wilderness (El Dorado County), a mountain biker in Santa Cruz, and an abducted teenager in Santa Clara County. BAMRU also responded to San Mateo in-county operations such as a firearm evidence search, Storm Watch, and multiple inter-agency trainings.

BAMRU is accredited in search management, tracking, technical rock rescue, and snow and ice rescue as a member of the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) and is a FEMA and California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) Type I search and rescue resource. This means that we have the ability to operate safely and effectively, unsupported for 72 hours, night or day, in all terrain, in all weather, and in all seasons.

Members of BAMRU are climbers, mountaineers, backpackers and skiers who train in a variety of skills used for search and rescue. BAMRU members live all over the Bay Area, from Marin to Santa Cruz and from San Francisco to Contra Costa County.

The unit is an independent, tax-exempt public charity as described in IRS section 501(c) (3) (Federal ID 23-7098709). It is a non-profit corporation with an elected board of directors, affiliated with the San Mateo County (California) Sheriff's Emergency Services Bureau.