Clay Skinner, a member of the Star Valley Search & Rescue, stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Wednesday, March 25 to share his experience as a member of S&R. The conversation is part of an ongoing series highlighting local search & rescue volunteers in both Star Valley and Kemmerer as the Fishing Dog Foundation host a fundraiser for both groups, raffling off an all-expense paid VIP experience to this year’s Kentucky Derby.

To support the search and rescue units and enter the Kentucky Derby raffle, click here. The raffle drawing will take place live on the radio during the Weekday Wake-up on Friday, April 17.

(0:01) 846 this morning on Swift 98 and the Spur appreciate the bank of Star Valley (0:06) taking a few minutes with us this morning and now heading into another (0:09) guest interview segment live in studio is Clay Skinner and among many other (0:13) things Clay is also a volunteer with the Star Valley Search and Rescue in studio (0:18) to tell us about his experience with the Search and Rescue as the Fishing Dog (0:21) Foundation continues with their fundraiser for both the Star Valley and (0:25) Lincoln County Search and Rescues in Star Valley and southern Lincoln County (0:29) with this Kentucky Derby VIP experience giveaway raffle helping raise money for (0:34) a couple of new pickup trucks for both search and rescue units Clay thanks for (0:38) stepping in studio today how are you this morning great Duke thanks for having me (0:42) on absolutely well let’s talk search and rescue tell us how long you’ve been a (0:45) member so I’ve been a member for about 10 years now got in always been involved (0:54) looking at different volunteer stuff my dad’s been a fireman forever here so I (0:59) wanted to give back to the community decided with with my job and what I do (1:05) my best option was to be with the search and rescue and it’s been a great (1:11) experience for me now you mentioned your job alignment for Lower Valley Energy so (1:16) yeah you’re out in the elements quite a bit and so when you when you talk about (1:20) maybe search and rescue and what have you enjoyed most about being part of the (1:25) volunteer group here I think the most things that I’ve enjoyed doing is just (1:31) being able to go up and either find people or be able to get people that are (1:36) hurt out of bad situations that are in I’ve been in some of those situations (1:42) myself and it’s pretty good to have somebody that’s willing to come out and (1:46) help out and and get you out of those bad spots now we mentioned you being a (1:51) volunteer the whole group are volunteers with with the search and rescue walk us (1:56) through maybe what kind of time commitment you guys kind of volunteering (1:59) and give to it because it’s not just the calls which are are growing all the time (2:03) but it’s the training and making sure that you’re you’re ready and and know (2:08) have the equipment ready and everything good to go when that call comes in right (2:12) and that’s one of the big things is is making sure that we don’t become the (2:16) victim you know we’ve got to have the the training and we spend oh we spend a (2:22) couple hours twice a month in meetings and trainings and then we do specialized (2:28) training some of them will be two day weekend deals some of the other stuff (2:35) we’ll do is some ropes classes things like that getting us ready for like (2:41) high-angle rescue we’ve got some really good volunteers that come down from (2:46) Simplot that have that have really stepped up our game things like that (2:51) one of the big things is we’ve got such a diverse area from snow machining to (2:57) horseback riding to whitewater rapids on the Snake River it’s just a huge (3:03) diverse area and we’ve got to have guys that are specialized in all of that and I (3:09) think we’ve done a really good job having different people in search and (3:12) rescue that can be that that specialized person well of course this (3:18) fundraiser with this Kentucky Derby VIP giveaway the goal is to buy a new pickup (3:23) trucks for both Star Valley and southern Lincoln County when you think about man (3:27) how it sure be nice to have this kind of truck what what what do you think it (3:30) would help with search and rescue when the calls come in how do you think this (3:33) is a benefit well I think it’s a huge benefit for us being able to have we’ve (3:39) got two buildings one in Alpine and one in Afton and being able to have them (3:44) stocked with trucks that we can immediately jump in either go up Grays (3:49) River or go up South End without having to bring other trucks to the scene we (3:55) can have quicker response with with multiple I guess buildings and good (4:03) vehicles that we can rely on that to get us where we need to go (4:06) Clay Skinner with the Star Valley Search and Rescue in studio this morning for (4:09) the weekday wake up Clay you’ve had the chance to travel all over the nation and (4:13) help in disaster situations kind of the aftermath of natural disasters and I’m (4:18) sure you’ve worked with all various types of crews and response units when (4:23) you compare what this volunteer group is here with the Star Valley Search and (4:27) Rescue and compare that with maybe some of the quote professionals that respond (4:32) to some of these other type disasters how would you compare them I’m sure that (4:36) the the guys here stack up very well across the best of the best in the nation (4:41) you know it is impressive we do really well especially for what we’ve got here (4:49) I’ve been involved in the stuff I was down in Asheville when everything went (4:53) down with the hurricane and I would take our guys down there I would I would use (5:00) them in those kind of situations because they do well we’ve got a really (5:05) cohesive group that seems to get along really well work together and are able (5:12) to improve and do some pretty amazing things I think absolutely so if you’d (5:18) like to support the search and rescue and potentially end up with a VIP (5:23) all-expense trip to the Kentucky Derby this May for the 2026 Kentucky Derby (5:29) then you can purchase a raffle ticket for 20 bucks that’s all it is 20 bucks (5:34) per ticket all goes to a great cause supporting both the Star Valley and (5:37) Leakey County search and rescues and this isn’t just any small little trip (5:42) either four day three night accommodations breakfast daily and all (5:46) hotel taxes paid all expenses including airfare round-trip includes food and (5:53) first-floor clubhouse tickets located anywhere with inside the Kentucky Derby (6:00) and of course it is the Kentucky Derby so hat design and shopping options also (6:04) part of this if you’d like to support and be part of it you can purchase raffle (6:08) tickets through the fishing dog foundation there’s QR codes and flyers (6:12) around Lincoln County and also on our website you can also visit fishing dog (6:16) foundation org fishing dog foundation org they’ll do the drawing live here on (6:21) the weekday wake up on April 17th so you have until April 17th to get those (6:27) tickets for the raffle $20 each and at all expense VIP experience at this year’s (6:34) Kentucky Derby somebody’s gonna win that it might as well be you visit fishing (6:37) dog foundation org support the search and rescue units clay why would you (6:42) encourage someone else to join you guys and be part of the search and rescue you (6:46) know I think it’s awesome to be a part of something other than just yourself (6:52) we need to be able to support our community whatever it may be you know (6:57) and we’re always looking for great hands that could come out and be a benefit to (7:02) us again find the details on this raffle at fishing dog foundation org and (7:06) support the volunteers with the star Valley and Leakey County search and (7:09) rescue clay appreciate what you do and thanks for coming in today thanks a (7:12) bunch it’s all part of the weekday wake up this morning on SVI radio