Years Active: 2014-Current “I’ve always been one to volunteer. Following my family’s example of community service, I had volunteered with church, scouts, and other local activities. My son, Brandon, was one of the founding members of TEXSAR and often told me of their service to Texas,” said long-time volunteer Penny Goering. Her son was involved in the well-publicized search and rescue of Cathy Frye in Big Bend State Park in 2013. “Though we were visiting family, Brandon...

                Years Active: 2014-2022 “I believe God made us to be servants, not consumers. Our service with TEXSAR is part of that,” said Laura Norman as she discussed the involvement that she and her husband, Edward, had with TEXSAR from 2014 to 2022. As a fireman/paramedic in 2014, Edward worked for Fort Bend County Emergency Management and knew about TEXSAR. He believed it was a match to Laura’s desire to serve others. TEXSAR also met his goals...

“Volunteering with TEXSAR illuminated my feelings about wanting to help others, to do as much as I can for as many as I can,” said long-time volunteer Ken Jamilosa, “and that has affected my career choices and involvement as a volunteer for various organizations.” Ken joined TEXSAR as a member of Central Division about three weeks before the disastrous Memorial Day Wimberley Floods of 2015. “I went on one missing persons mission and shortly after the first...

20 Years, 20 Stories – Andy Anthony – From Disaster to Service Years Active: 2008 – Present Major disasters change lives. The ripples move from those who experienced the disaster to those who witnessed it, to those who heard about it or saw images from the scenes. 9/11 was one of those types of events and for Andy Anthony the events forced him to challenge himself with, “Why am I watching others suffer?”  Andy reflects on his childhood and...

“TEXSAR: 20 Years, 20 Stories, is a series of people-centric stories that celebrate the history of TEXSAR’s heroics and humanity as its volunteers continue their mission of ‘Texans helping Texans’ with Service above Self. The sequence of stories and profiles come together in 2024, the nonprofit’s 20th anniversary year.” TEXSAR: 20 Years, 20 Stories — Allen Robinson:  From Stuntman to Rescuer Years Active: 2014-Present When you understand stunt work and search-and-rescue (SAR) work, it makes sense that someone who excels in...

The Next Generation of ADIAT We are excited to announce that a new version of the Automated Drone Image Analysis Tool (ADIAT) is now available for public use. Originally released in 2019, ADIAT is an open source platform and set of computer vision algorithms that can be used to identify areas of interest in images from UAVs. This latest release includes a revamped user interface, significant performance improvements, a new detection algorithm, and advanced features to enhance...