'We need funding': Alberta's lone volunteer underwater search team asks for support to bring closure to families

The volunteer underwater search team that responds to drownings all across Alberta is concerned it won't be able to survive without funding from the provincial government.

The Underwater Search Team responded to 19 calls in 2021 and seven so far this summer, including the death of a 14-year-old Edmonton boy in a Whitecourt, Alta., pond last Sunday.

August is typically its busiest month, and the president of the group is worried they'll be needed again this weekend as the warm weather continues in Alberta.

"The fear is that with the heat and high temperatures, I think a lot of people will be trying to get out to the lakes and I fear that we might be called out again. It would be lovely if we're not," Luke Jevne told CTV News Edmonton in Millet on Wednesday.

"I hope people play it safe, wear life jackets, take precautions and come home. That's the number one job: come home."

The Underwater Search Team has 12 volunteers, and at least four are needed per recovery mission.

They don't get paid and all the equipment is personally funded. Jevne — who hasn't been to his paying job in nearly a month while he's responded to five calls — estimates he's spent $15,000 on gear and another $15,000 on training.

He called it a "very expensive passion," but he does it to bring closure to families who've lost loved ones in drownings.

"I'm happy to do what I've done but it comes at a very big cost," he said.

"I've talked to an MLA and an MP, and again they were shocked that there's no funding for us or that we're not a full-time dive team and that's as far as it's gone."

CTV News reached out to the provincial government for comment but has not heard back.

To donate to the Underwater Search Team, click here.

"Financially and timewise, I don't know how we can make this continue. It's taken a lot of toll, not just on the bank account but the time away from family and work," Jevne said.

"We need funding."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk