All About Appalachian Mountain Mantrailing and Rescue – Part 2

In Part 1 of this story, Sandy Weik provided us with information about Appalachian Mountain Mantrailing and Rescue.  She continues by focusing on the search and rescue part of the organization.  Ms. Weik says, “As far as search and rescue, if a family wants us to come search for their child, they can call us, or, if any police are involved, we have to wait till they dispatch us.  That is an ongoing investigation, so they have to get a hold of us once the police is involved, but, other than that, if you think your child is gone, and before you get a hold of them, you can call us.  We can come in, check it out and see what we can do that way.”

Co-owners Sandy and Dave Weik have been on high-profile searches before, particularly in the aftermath of major catastrophes.  For AMMAR, although finding the intended subject may be considered a success, it can also bring bad news.  Ms. Weik says, “I’ve been to different searches around the area.  I had a child that was lost.  I had an elderly lady that was lost.  We go.  We do our best.  We’ve had some failures.  We’ve had some good things.  There’s some that are still ongoing.  You just go, and you hope you find somebody that is missing.

“Back in 2016, we were down at White Sulphur floods.  We were down there for ‘bout a week.  We had found one fatality that was hidden under debris, then the search was called off, and Dave and I, we were going to go back, but then they actually called us back, and we did find the fourteen-year-old that was missing.  It was sad, but it was bittersweet, and we gave closure to the family.  That was the bittersweet part – and the community.”

Ms. Weik says a lot goes in to making the organization function.  “It is very tedious work, a lot of time and effort, and it is all done to help people out,” she continues.  “We don’t get paid for what we do.  It’s all volunteer work.  Our rescue is run by donations only.  We do fundraisers when we go to these fairs.  We ask for donations.  We sell things that were donated to us.  Paypal, we do that.  We sell t-shirts that have AMMAR on.  We have transports when people adopt these dogs.  We actually have transports up and down the East Coast that people will go so far, send the dog off with another person and get it to wherever it’s ‘re-homed,’ and that’s all free of charge, and when we adopt a dog, the price of that goes right back in to the rescue.

“To join our organization, you just have to get in touch with me.  When we do the trainings, come out to the trainings.  See what we do.  We can always use runners – peoples that go hide, and I have extra bloodhounds.  I can teach you how to handle one.  It’s just to go out and have fun, and if we’re needed for search, you know, you’re educated, you know how to do it, we can take you along.”

To join or donate, people can contact Sandy Weik at 304-456-4446, go online to www.appalachianhounds.com or visit the organization’s Facebook pages by searching for AMMAR Hounds or Appalachian Mountain Mantrailing and Rescue. (https://www.facebook.com/AMMARAppalachianMountainManTrailingandRescue/ AND https://www.facebook.com/ammarescue/)