NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — “I’ve walked a lot of woods, especially in areas most people would not go,” said WATER Team Inc. Executive Director Joe Slabinski.
Volunteers with WATER Team Inc. have gone the distance to try to bring those missing in Hampton Roads back to their families. The organization started in 2018 in response to Hurricane Florence. Slabinski said they initially operated as a water response team, but after five years of operating, they're forced to close.
“2021, Stephen Cleaton, who became our very first missing persons case, his family got up with us,” he said.
After finding Cleaton, another missing person’s case popped up on their desk. Over the course of the nonprofit’s five-year run, they’ve worked on 27 missing persons cases and found 22 people. But Slabinski says it’s the people still missing he’ll never forget.
“Codi Bigsby, Shanitia Lewis, Mr. Allen," Slabinski said. "Joel Hernandez.”
Slabinski wears this organization on his sleeve which is why he says it was tough for him and the board to make the decision to shut down.
"Especially the last two, they’ve been a long two years in the woods just about every day. Unfortunately, that takes money,” he said.
Slabinski said he doesn't have enough funds to keep going.
"We've always had it in our budget that we needed to raise $60,000 or more," he said. "To date, we have never been able to even break $45,000. So, that put you deeper in the hole year after year after year."
He said they’ve let go of most volunteers and much of the team’s equipment and gear ahead of the end of operations on October 30th.
Slabinski said throughout the years, he's identified some challenges.
"The struggle with trying to get law enforcement to work with us," he said. "It's the head of that department. Getting politicians to work with you because there are things that they can be doing-especially to help with the human trafficking of teenagers."
Although the doors at WATER Team Inc. will soon close, Slabinski says its mission will continue in a new light.
“There will be another search and rescue organization… But I’ll probably be starting something of that nature called Lone Wolf Search and Rescue.”
He said he's thinking about taking that operation to Alabama and working on a national level.
Slabinski said another organization in Lancaster County, VA will absorb WATER Team, Inc. to become 'WATER Team CERT' out of the Northern Neck. He said that the organization will respond to flooding and traffic mitigation.