The Volunteers Who Could Save Your Life

When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in the fall of 2024, the damage was devastating. But while most people sought safety, members of the Linville-Central Rescue Squad headed straight into the disaster zone. Technical training and long hours of practice enabled the all-volunteer team to provide critical response and support during the area’s catastrophic flooding.

The event was unprecedented, but Linville-Central’s search-and-rescue efforts should not have been a surprise. For more than 50 years, the group has been providing SAR services in Avery County and the surrounding region, with a team that includes first responders, certified rescue technicians, EMTs, paramedics, and K9s. They respond wherever needed—evacuating a hiker with a broken ankle, rescuing a climber stranded on a cliff, extricating a victim trapped by a car accident, searching for lost people, and more.

It’s all hero’s work, especially when you consider Linville-Central is a nonprofit, volunteer-led organization. Plus, it’s operating in an area where the demand for search-and-rescue services keeps increasing, thanks to the growing number of people exploring the beautiful but rugged and technical terrain, with numerous mountain trails, waterfalls, and rock climbing destinations. Their service area includes parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Grandfather Mountain State Park, the Appalachian Trail, Lost Cove Wilderness, and the Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic River Area.

Fortunately, their job just got a little easier, thanks to the Defender Service Awards Presented by Chase. Now in its fifth year, the program honors the unsung heroes of our communities, the hardworking nonprofits across the United States and Canada that provide critical community support, like search-and-rescue services, veteran support, outdoor access, and animal welfare. Winners in six categories take home a Defender 130 SUV and $30,000 in prize money. That can be a game changer for a local nonprofit, and it’s just the latest incarnation of Defender’s legacy of supporting charitable organizations. For decades, Defender has created legendary vehicles to take service workers on missions to help others, and that continues with the Defender Service Awards. Since 2021, the program has awarded 24 customized Defender SUVs and more than $1 million to elevate mission-driven organizations that are strengthening their communities. In total, 90-plus nonprofits have benefited, enabling them to improve and expand their services.

The Linville-Central Rescue Squad is one of them, earning the Search, Rescue and Emergency Support Services Award in 2024. “When we had to send a search team to a neighboring state to search high-angle terrain, the Defender 130 was the perfect vehicle,” says Derick Calloway, director of the squad’s mountain rescue team. “It transported the team and their technical gear and towed a UTV. One thing we learned from responding to Hurricane Helene is that we need more capable vehicles, and now we have one with the Defender 130. When the next flood comes, we know we’ll be better prepared.”

Christopher Brown, another Linville-Central volunteer EMT and member of the mountain rescue team, says the benefits of the Defender 130 are clear—like having cameras all around the vehicle at the wheels to negotiate tight, technical terrain and crowded trailheads. But he also says they’ve learned that the award is much greater than just winning the vehicle and the grant. “We’ve made valuable connections and received more exposure than ever before,” he says. “Even our own community hasn’t always known what we do. The Defender Service Awards has allowed us to tell our story to a huge audience. That helps Linville-Central Rescue Squad on so many levels.”

Enter the 2025 Defender Service Awards

Know a nonprofit that could use a supercapable 4WD vehicle and $30,000 cash? The time is now to enter this mission-driven awards program.

Learn more at Defender Service Awards.

The Defender Brand embraces the impossible. Each member of the Defender family is purposefully designed, highly desirable and seriously durable. A modern‑day hero that respects the past but at the same time anticipates the future. Available in 90, 110 and 130 body styles, with up to eight seats, each has a charisma of its own. The tough luxury Defender OCTA is the master of performance — taking performance and capability to another level on and off‑road. A beacon of liberty that can trace its heritage back to the first Land Rover in 1948, Defender is a brand that supports humanitarian and conservation work with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Tusk Trust. The Defender brand is underpinned by Land Rover — a mark of trust built on more than 75 years of expertise in technology and world‑leading off‑road capability. Defender vehicles are designed and engineered in the UK and sold in 121 countries. It belongs to the JLR house of brands alongside Range Rover, Discovery and Jaguar.