In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, South Orange Village learned a lot about steps that the community needed to take to be better prepared when an emergency strikes.
One of those priority items was strengthening South Orange’s volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
The CERT program educates people about disaster preparedness for emergencies that may impact their area and trains them in basic emergency response skills. CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood and community following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help and can take on various roles necessary to support emergency operations.
Trustee Sheena Collum, for example, was able to assist the Village as a CERT volunteer in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy by helping to run a local shelter, checking in on elderly and special needs residents, and helping to distribute pertinent information when it was available. “As you can probably imagine,” wrote Collum in a recent email, “there’s so many roles and responsibilities that volunteers can play.”
South Orange Village is hosting its first Emergency Preparedness Community Leaders Meeting on Wednesday, November 5 from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Baird Community Center. The meeting and group will be run by South Orange Deputy Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Adam Loehner and South Orange CERT Chairperson Andrew Boyarsky. Public safety officials will be in attendance.
“We need your assistance and are hoping you can help us strengthen this program and/or identify people within your community/neighborhood groups that can,” wrote Collum.
Those interested in attending can RSVP to Trustee Sheena Collum at scollum@southorange.org.
