NORTHERN OAHE RESCUE TEAM (NORT)

 MOBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT SEARCH AND RESCUE UNIT

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The Northern Oahe Rescue Team is an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-tax-subsidized  organization. We rely on donations from the public as our sole means of funding for equipment and training. Your donated funds help to maintain our existing equipment and purchase needed equipment. Your donations also help to pay for training to improve our rescue capabilities.

Monetary donations to NORT are tax deductible, since NORT is a governmental entity.

You can make a monetary donation two ways:

The Northern Oahe Rescue Team (NORT) was formed in 2002 and was created by the Mobridge Police Department to satisfy the need for quick emergency response to situations occurring on or near the waters of Lake Oahe in the Mobridge area. NORT is the only water rescue team serving the northern Lake Oahe area. NORT serves northern Lake Oahe, the City of Mobridge, Walworth County, and all adjacent counties.

NORT is primarily a water rescue organization, but will assist the Mobridge Fire Department and any other agencies with terrain searches and rescues, when requested.

NORT is the Search and Rescue Unit of the Mobridge Police Department. All NORT members are volunteers and our MPD SAR Unit does not currently receive any governmental funding. NORT membership is comprised of area law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and civilians. Members have varying levels of specialized training and experience in EMS and SAR. 

Since NORT does not receive any governmental funding, our unit relies on fundraising as the sole means of funding for operations, training and equipment through gifts, donations and fundraising events. The main fundraiser is the NORT Annual Walleye Fish Fry Fundraiser usually held in October. See below for more information.

NORT members utilize both personal equipment and equipment purchased by proceeds from our fundraisers. Since we are a recently formed organization, we are currently seeking funding donations for equipment. If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Northern Oahe Rescue Team, please click the donation button at the top of the page.

Although the Northern Oahe Rescue Team is the Search and Rescue Unit of the Mobridge Police Department, NORT is not tax-subsidized. This means that all the money used to operate the team, to pay for training, and to purchase equipment and gear is obtained through private donations by the public and through NORT fundraising efforts.

The Northern Oahe Rescue Team's main source of funding is generated through our NORT Annual Walleye Fish Fry Fundraiser. During this fundraiser, we serve delicious Walleye caught right from our own Lake Oahe in the Mobridge Area. The Walleye are donated each year to NORT by fishing tournament competitors. NORT members clean and fillet the fish during the tournament and then water pack and freeze the Walleye fillets for use during our annual fish fry. NORT members cube, batter and fry the Walleye at the fish fry. Also served are two sides such as potato salad and coleslaw, dinner rolls with butter, and a desert such as bars or cake. Hot dogs and buns are also available for children and those who don't wish to enjoy some of the finest fried Walleye anywhere!

This fun event is held every year at the Moose Lodge in Mobridge overlooking beautiful Lake Oahe. This is a rapidly growing and very successful event thanks to all the supportive people in our community and the area, as well as all our event business sponsors.

Mobridge and surrounding area businesses donate hundreds of dollars worth of prizes to NORT each year. These prizes are won by patrons at the fish fry on the Bingo Balls-O-Fun. Numbered paint sticks are purchased for amounts ranging from one to five dollars, depending on the worth of the prize, by patrons for a chance to win various donated prizes. Once all the numbered sticks have been sold, numbered bingo balls are collected at random and the patron who holds the numbered stick matching the bingo ball number wins that particular prize! This is a very popular and exciting portion of our fish fry.

Some of the more high-end prizes donated to NORT by area businesses are auctioned off to the highest bidder. The fun part about this is listening to our emcee "try" to sound like a professional auctioneer!

During the finale of our fish fry fundraiser, we hold our annual raffle drawing in which we give away three major prizes.

For 2010, we gave away $1,000 in Mobridge Cash as Grand Prize, $500 in Mobridge Cash as Second Prize, and $250 in Mobridge Cash as Third Prize. Mobridge Cash is same-as-cash at any participating business in Mobridge. (Mobridge Chamber of Commerce sponsored five-hundred dollars of the Mobridge Cash given away. Thanks Mobridge Chamber!!!)

You do not need to be present to win the raffle prizes, but you will miss out on excellent food!

NORT Raffle tickets are sold by NORT members, at the Mobridge Police Department, through Mobridge sponsor businesses and at the fundraiser event. Our fundraiser raffle tickets can even be purchased online through this website using PayPal™ or your credit card or check card. The online raffle ticket purchase option appears at the top of this webpage when it is available.