Samos Greece Dive Training
Donation protected
Update!
As most of you know we met our previous goal of $3000.00 dollars to send Alexandros to PADI Instructor training. He has passed his exams and completed 5 specialty courses. He is now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer. I cant thank all of you enough for making this happen.
Alexandros is now working on getting his Public Safety Diving Instructor certification. Training divers to this level will help with challenging missions they may face. He is also heavily involved with the education and preservation of the underwater environment of Samos. He coordinates underwater clean ups of the island coast and volunteers his time in the community.
The remaining funds I am raisng will go to much needed underwater full face dive masks with communications, parts to service and maintain the masks and any additional materials he may need to meet his goals for his studnets and Samos. Thank you to all who have helped us to get closer to making this happen. Please share this with anyone you think may be able to help.
Respectfully
Jerry Richert
My name is Jerry Richert, I am a firefighter and Corporate Trainer for Dive Rescue International. November 2015 I was watching Sky News when I saw a story about a volunteer dive team in Samos Greece. Due to their very close location to Turkey they were receiving a large number of refugees fleeing war torn countries. The refugees were unfortunately being transported to Samos in rafts and boats that were overloaded and not designed to make the trip. As a result many did not make the trip,
The video I watched was of this volunteer dive team having to go out and pull the bodies of refugees off a boat that had sunk just off their shore. What I didnt know until later was that this dive team was in fact members of a local recreational dive club on the island. There are no rescue or recovery dive teams on the island so these men and women stepped up to go do something that they were not trained to do. When they made the dive on the sunk boat they found eleven people had died; five women and six children, four of them babies and all trapped inside. This was their first experience with having to conduct this kind of diving and sadly not the last.
https://youtu.be/GPRE2gwWoNw
I am a Public Safety Diver/Trainer and know the kind of stress that can be experienced by having to recover bodies of drowning victims. In all the years I have been doing this and the numerous sad stories I have witnessed, I have never come across anything like what the Samos Divers did on their very first dive.
On the Sky News video they mentioned they were volunteers and worked off of donations. I immediatley found their diving association website and sent an email asking what they needed. I soon received a response saying they needed diving dry suits and prayers.
I work for a large fire dept and we had extra equipment that we were no longer going to use. With permission from our administration I worked on putting together a package that included equipment that we would use for diving in those kind of situations. 10 Drysuits, 6 Full Face Masks, 6 Wireless Underwater Communications Units and Surface Communications Units.
With the help of friends, the fire department, Dive Rescue International and UPS we were able to secure funding and a reduced rate to get all the equipment to Samos Greece. It arrived on Christmas Day 2015 which was not planned but very fitting!
The final step was when a donor paid for me to go to Greece and meet the team. I was able to bring spare parts for their full face diving masks and drysuits and teach a class on how to service and repair both. The best part was the new friends I made and the mornings at the cafe talking with the people who make up this team of volunteers.
My time spent with Alexandros the team leader and head of the Samos Diving Association was unforgettable. This is a very knowledgeable and kind man who has done extensive work and research on how best to keep his divers safe. He has also reached out for help in addressing the pyschological impact this experince has had on the team.
It became very clear to me that the next logical step for Alexandros and his team was for him to become a Public Safety Scuba Instructor and Recreational Instructor for his team and others on the island that may join down the road.
I am asking for help raising the $3000.00 it will take to send Alexandros to Instructor training in his country. This money will pay for everything he needs, books, training, lodging and certification to become a Scuba Instructor for his members and his island. I ask that you would consider giving to this cause. Due to Alexandros and his team stepping up during this time of need, their role has only expanded into other areas. Being able to train his own members without sending them somehwere off the island is much needed and appreciated.
Thank you
Jerry Richert
As most of you know we met our previous goal of $3000.00 dollars to send Alexandros to PADI Instructor training. He has passed his exams and completed 5 specialty courses. He is now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer. I cant thank all of you enough for making this happen.
Alexandros is now working on getting his Public Safety Diving Instructor certification. Training divers to this level will help with challenging missions they may face. He is also heavily involved with the education and preservation of the underwater environment of Samos. He coordinates underwater clean ups of the island coast and volunteers his time in the community.
The remaining funds I am raisng will go to much needed underwater full face dive masks with communications, parts to service and maintain the masks and any additional materials he may need to meet his goals for his studnets and Samos. Thank you to all who have helped us to get closer to making this happen. Please share this with anyone you think may be able to help.
Respectfully
Jerry Richert
My name is Jerry Richert, I am a firefighter and Corporate Trainer for Dive Rescue International. November 2015 I was watching Sky News when I saw a story about a volunteer dive team in Samos Greece. Due to their very close location to Turkey they were receiving a large number of refugees fleeing war torn countries. The refugees were unfortunately being transported to Samos in rafts and boats that were overloaded and not designed to make the trip. As a result many did not make the trip,
The video I watched was of this volunteer dive team having to go out and pull the bodies of refugees off a boat that had sunk just off their shore. What I didnt know until later was that this dive team was in fact members of a local recreational dive club on the island. There are no rescue or recovery dive teams on the island so these men and women stepped up to go do something that they were not trained to do. When they made the dive on the sunk boat they found eleven people had died; five women and six children, four of them babies and all trapped inside. This was their first experience with having to conduct this kind of diving and sadly not the last.
https://youtu.be/GPRE2gwWoNw
I am a Public Safety Diver/Trainer and know the kind of stress that can be experienced by having to recover bodies of drowning victims. In all the years I have been doing this and the numerous sad stories I have witnessed, I have never come across anything like what the Samos Divers did on their very first dive.
On the Sky News video they mentioned they were volunteers and worked off of donations. I immediatley found their diving association website and sent an email asking what they needed. I soon received a response saying they needed diving dry suits and prayers.
I work for a large fire dept and we had extra equipment that we were no longer going to use. With permission from our administration I worked on putting together a package that included equipment that we would use for diving in those kind of situations. 10 Drysuits, 6 Full Face Masks, 6 Wireless Underwater Communications Units and Surface Communications Units.
With the help of friends, the fire department, Dive Rescue International and UPS we were able to secure funding and a reduced rate to get all the equipment to Samos Greece. It arrived on Christmas Day 2015 which was not planned but very fitting!
The final step was when a donor paid for me to go to Greece and meet the team. I was able to bring spare parts for their full face diving masks and drysuits and teach a class on how to service and repair both. The best part was the new friends I made and the mornings at the cafe talking with the people who make up this team of volunteers.
My time spent with Alexandros the team leader and head of the Samos Diving Association was unforgettable. This is a very knowledgeable and kind man who has done extensive work and research on how best to keep his divers safe. He has also reached out for help in addressing the pyschological impact this experince has had on the team.
It became very clear to me that the next logical step for Alexandros and his team was for him to become a Public Safety Scuba Instructor and Recreational Instructor for his team and others on the island that may join down the road.
I am asking for help raising the $3000.00 it will take to send Alexandros to Instructor training in his country. This money will pay for everything he needs, books, training, lodging and certification to become a Scuba Instructor for his members and his island. I ask that you would consider giving to this cause. Due to Alexandros and his team stepping up during this time of need, their role has only expanded into other areas. Being able to train his own members without sending them somehwere off the island is much needed and appreciated.
Thank you
Jerry Richert
Organizer
Jerry Richert
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN
