It's been a hectic two weeks for those desperately searching for a missing 15-year-old boy. But on Friday, searchers hunting a park area for any sign of missing Brandon Crisp found the first true reasons for hope.

A team came across a blue-checkered jacket, a tent, crackers and a full bag of chips in the area where the youngster was last seen, and although they're reluctant to say it definitively belonged to the boy, they're hoping it's proof that he was there - and may still be somewhere nearby.

More than 400 volunteers set out in a renewed search for Crsip, who disappeared from his home in Barrie on Thanksgiving Day after getting into a fight with parents over his excessive use of the online video game Call of Duty 4.  

Police have since found his bike and a witness who saw him with his backpack on foot early on during his disappearance. But there's been no trace of him since then.

His frantic parents are pleading with cottage owners to check their properties to see if their lost boy may be hiding out in one of the temporarily abandoned residences.

A new weapon was added to the arsenal for information on Friday - a website has just been set up to aid with tips and information.

The Barrie Advance newspaper, where mom Angelika Crisp works, is leading the effort, a day after it posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the teen's whereabouts.  

Coordinator Charmaine Nolan said the searchers faned out in three groups, some looking in the area police believe he may be, others asking people to check their properties, and the last group distributing reward posters.

"We're really just praying that we find something this weekend and bring him home safe," Nolan said. 

"Your heart goes out to the family, you know, when you see a child missing," volunteer Bill Hamilton said.

Another searcher, Pauline Van Veen, adds, "I feel sorry for the young boy. If he's out there he must be pretty sad and pretty scared. Hopefully we'll find him."

The search will continue all weekend.

On Thursday, staff and students at Brandon's school, St. Joseph's Catholic High School, held a prayer vigil for him. Candles were lit near pictures of the teen, and classmates left messages at a designated area in the facility.

"It just shows the love and the support of the whole community of Barrie," dad Steve Crisp said after the ceremony.

Police expanded their search this week to Orillia, about 40 kilometres north of Barrie. They said it was possible he might have left the area but added it wasn't in his nature.

"It's not in his character -- he's not a wanderer, he's not a runaway," Barrie police Sgt. Dave Goodbrand said. "He literally has vanished."

Though Brandon likes the survival shows Mantracker and Survivorman, Goodbrand noted he wasn't equipped to spend a long amount of time in the wild.

The new website, FindBrandonCrisp.com, isn't affiliated with the police or with Crisp's family - it was set up independently by a publicity company.

It's believed Brandon was playing the game online with others and his family is pleading with Microsoft to cut its red tape and tell them who their child was competing against just before he vanished, hoping he may have gone to hide out with one of his opponents.

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