American Legion CERT Train-the-Trainer

On December 15, Bob George Citizen Corps/CERT Program Manager, Marny McLee Citizen Corps/CERT Training & Outreach Coordinator and Dave Young Lead CERT Instructor taught a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train-the-Trainer Class to the American Legion. The class was taught at the Walter Fox American Legion Post #2 in Dover to eleven Legion CERT Team members who took the CERT class in Oct. The team will be the POC's for training at their respective Legions and will come together to teach CERT to members throughout the many American Legion Post all over the state and in the communities.

Click here for more pictures

New Fire Corps Program!

For those of you interested in serving the Minquadale Fire Company Fire Corps, please contact Teresa:

Minquadale Fire Company
129 E. Hazeldel Ave
New Castle, DE 19720

Teresa Fredricks
302 652-0986
teresa1290@gmail.com

Bank of America CERT Training

On Dec 11th, Bob George Citizen Corps/CERT Program Manager and Marny McLee Citizen Corps/CERT Training and Outreach Coordinator and the State Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) with assistance from the Wilmington OEM taught a class to the Bank of America in Wilmington. This is the second CERT class taught to the BoA with 15 students in attendance, another class is being schedule for early next year. BoA is also the newest member of the State Citizen Corps Council and will eventually take the Train-the-Trainer course which will allow them to teach the course throughout their organization.

Click here for more photos.

Holiday Info: The Twelve Days Of Christmas - Preparing Families For

Information to share from the American Red Cross...

The Twelve Days Of Christmas - Preparing Families For Disaster

You can find the "Twelve Days of Christmas Preparing Families for
Disaster" at the following web site:

http://redcross.tallytown.com/tdoc.html

Delaware Citizen Corps in National Newsletter

Delaware Citizen Corps has been featured in the December 2007 edition of the National Citizen Corps Newsletter. Check it out!

Click Here to View Newsletter

Delaware Citizen Corps Receives Award

On November 7, 2007 Bob George Citizen Corps Program Manager, and Marny McLee Citizen Corps Training and Outreach Coordinator for the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) were presented the Regional Response and Readiness Award.

The award was presented during the Regional All Hazards Forum held at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Md. The Mid-Atlantic All Hazards Forum (AHF) is a public-private partnership of Mid-Atlantic States and private corporations. It is sponsored by the All Hazards Consortium (AHC), a new non-profit organization formed by the Mid-Atlantic States.

The Consortium is a regional model designed to improve regional preparedness in the areas of homeland security and emergency management by facilitating dialogue among state government leadership and increasing interaction between state and local governments; industry/private sector; universities; and non-profits organizations. Participating states include Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

In addition to the many familiar programs that Delaware Citizen Corps is conducting, they have created Communication Corps, an initiative to leverage the resources statewide of the volunteer and amateur radio communities. Delaware includes many different volunteer communications organizations and realized that an overarching council needed to be produced to help coordinate those efforts while not competing against other organizations.

Delaware Communication Corps has participated in a variety of regional exercises including two from the Delmarva Emergency Task Force (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia), many exercises for Region III including the U.S. Department of Defense through the Military Affiliate Radio System.

Bob and Marny on behalf of their State Director of Emergency Management, their State Citizen Corps Council, and their entire Program partners in Preparedness, thanked the Board of Directors of the All Hazard Consortium. “We gratuitously accept this award and see this as a validation of not only Delaware’s efforts in Citizen Preparedness but as a validation of the terrific Citizen Corps Councils’ in our Region. Your mission to help create new resources and funding opportunities for states to support regional multi-state collaboration efforts from all stakeholders is indeed the forward thinking we need to be better prepared to Plan, Respond and Recover.”

Unattended Child Center Briefing

Anne McCann of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) Coordinator for the Unattended Child Center (UCC) and Darryl Dawson of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services brief the Ocean View Citizen Corps Council Civilian Auxiliary Police (CAP) Unit. The purpose of the UCC is to provide short term caring environment/shelter for unattended children who may become separated from their parents, custodians, or legal guardians during emergencies. The CAP will be used as volunteers in the (UCC) if one was to be opened during an disastrous event. Delaware Citizen Corps is a member of the UCC Council.

Never to Young to Learn Safety

As a part of Fire Safety Awareness , George Giles Director of the Wilmington Office of Emergency Management and the City of Wilmington Citizen Corps/CERT Council , teaches children how to operate a Fire Extinguisher at the Elsmere Fire Company. This portable fire extinguisher equipment is also utilized as a part of our Fire Safety Class in our Community Emergency Response Training (CERT).

Web Site Updates

Citizen Corps has updated two major portions of our website, www.delawarecitizencorps.org. The resources section features new videos by Ready.gov on disaster preparedness. These videos include preparedness for senior citizens, people with pets, and people with non-typical functional needs.

Additionally we've updated the Partner Programs page with information about some new partnerships with the American Legion and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

Continue to check the website for more information the All-Hazards Consortium Committee and the award they presented to the Delaware Citizen Corps Council during their meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center on November 7th. Photos and story coming soon!

American Legion CERT Class

On October 26-29, Bob George Citizen Corps Program Manager and Marny McLee Citizen Corps Training and Outreach Coordinator and the State CERT Instructor team with assistance from the Wilmington OEM taught a CERT Class for the American Legion at the Middletown Post #25. Citizen Corps and the American Legion are National Affiliates, and at the National Level have an MOU signed. Delaware is in the final stages of having a MOU at the state level, signed and approved. Currently Citizen Corps and American Legion are now working at the local level in order to get all posts in DE and surrounding communities CERT Trained. Don White Jr, Past Adjunct for the American Legion was instrumental in coordinating the scheduling of the class. Citizen Corps will be scheduling a Train-the-Trainer class in the near future with the Legion so they can go throughout the State and their Legions to teach the course.

CERT at Child Support Services

The State Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) supported by the Wilmington Office of Emergency Management returned to the Division of Child Support Services to teach Part II of the CERT Awareness Course. Part I of the CERT Awareness course was taught in Jun 06 to the Divisions Crisis Response Team, many of the same members attended plus 10 additional.

Click here for more photos.

CERT Training at DSU

Bob George; Citizen Corps Program Manager, Marny McLee; Citizen Corps Training and Outreach Coordinator, and The State Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) with assistance from the Wilmington OEM taught a CERT Class at Delaware State University. The class was made up of 20 New Castle, Kent, and Sussex County residents, which consist of Day Care Providers, DSU Cadets, a Veterinarian, Delaware Animals in Disaster (DADS) Team Members, State and other individual students. This class was scheduled due to the backlog of individuals wanting to be CERT trained. Special thanks to DSU Police Chief James Overton for again opening up his campus to Citizen Corps for training.

For more pictures view the picture gallery.

CERT Arrives in Milton

On September 28 and 29 the state CERT team conducted training in the town of Milton. Led by Corporal Rockwell from the local Police Department and their Neighborhood Watch POC Mike McNamara, 23 dedicated citizens received two days of intense preparedness training. The training was well received and all seem motivated to go home and “develop an emergency plan” and make an “Emergency kit” in preparation for any disaster that may occur. Click the slideshow above to view all the photos from the event.

Wilmington CERT Training

On September 12, and 13, 2007, the State CERT Team once again partnered with the Wilmington Citizen Corps Council to deliver CERT Training to the License and Inspections Team from the City of Wilmington. The training was comprised of a terrific class of professionals who brought their day to day expertise to the classroom. This made for a terrific interaction between Instructors and Students.

View the photo gallery for more pictures!

RSVP & Citizen Corps: Partners in Preparedness

We at Citizen Corps would like to recognize the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) for their efforts, hard work and dedication to the citizens of Delaware. RSVP was instrumental in recruiting and coordinating the efforts to establish a Citizen Corps Council at the County level.

RSVP has been a terrific partner with Citizen Corps, DEMA, Red Cross and many other organizations. They have developed a preparedness presentation and utilize their volunteers, to take the “make a Plan”, “make a Kit” message to the citizen of Delaware. Currently RSVP and specially Maryann Hook, and April Wiley have reached out to many volunteer organizations, business, emergency responders and citizens in an effort to assist and make a difference.

• RSVP is a member on the State Citizen Corps council
• RSVP is an active member of the Disaster Preparedness Coalition (developed to provide consistency of message with regard to Preparedness
• RSVP is also a member of our Family Emergency Preparedness Planning Committee (An Event held every year.)

For more information and to learn how to volunteer with RSVP please go their web site at http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dssc/sov/ and click on RSVP

Mary Ann Hook and April Willey of Delaware RSVP

September Citizen Corps Newsletter is available!

The September edition of the Community Preparedness Newsletter is now
posted:
http://www.citizencorps.gov/pdf/newsletter/cc-newsletter-september2007.pdf

President declares September 2007 “ National Preparedness Month”

President Bush issued a proclamation declaring September 2007 as National Preparedness Month. You can a find it on the White House website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070830-4.html

Family Emergency Preparedness Day was a Success!

On August 25, Delaware conducted its 3rd Family Emergency Preparedness Day at the Georgetown Campus, of Delaware Technical and Community College. Although the hottest day of the year, many brave Emergency Responders, Volunteers, and Citizens did not let the heat stop them from the outstanding training, educational and fun activities, and the “free Hot Dogs”. We at Citizen Corps would like to recognize those organizations that contributed so much to making this day a success. We have listed them below and although it’s a long list, they all did a stellar job and they are worthy of recognition. (See Photos for pictures of the event)

THANKS TO ALL
Special thanks goes out to the Planning Committee, Rosanne Pack (DEMA),Mary Ann Hook (RSVP), April Wiley (RSVP), Russ Carter (Ocean View Police), Steve Germain (Ocean View Police), Nichole Riley (Dept Of Health Preparedness Division), Holly Scott (American Red Cross) Kimberly Chandler, (Office of the Secretary of Safety & Homeland Security), Joe Thomas (Sussex EOC), Marny McLee (Citizen Corps).

American Red Cross Display Table/Training
Beaver Dam Pet Foods Table w/Pet Food Giveaways
Bethany Police Dept. Display Table/Child DNA Kit/Vip Car
Bridgeville Fire Co. Interactive Hazard House Display
Citizen Corps Display Table
Communication Corps Amateur Radio Display Table
Delaware Animal Disaster Services Display Table
Delaware Emergency Management Agency Display Table
Delaware Fire School Children Safety Exhibit/911 simulator
Delaware Medical Reserve CORP Display Table
Delaware National Guard Climbing Wall
Delaware Solid Waste Authority Display table & Trashcan Dan
Delaware State Police Bicycle Patrolmen - Bike Safety Demo
Delaware State Police Convincer - Rolling Car Display w/Crash Dummies
Delaware State Police Motorcycle Patrolmen
Delaware State Police My Family CD Child Identification
Delaware State Police Sgt. Dan Volkswagen
Delaware State Police & Georgetown K-9 Canine Demonstrations
Delaware State Police Command Unit Command Unit
DelMarVa Power Donation
DHSS Public Health - Emergency Preparedness Medical Mobile/Display Table
DNREC Fish and Wildlife Display/Boat & Trailer
Georgetown American Legion Ambulance
Georgetown Fire Company Fire Engines
Hispanic Community Display Table
National Guard Recruiting Table Display Table w/Humvee
Ocean View Police - CAPS Unit Display Table/VIP Patrol Car
Office of Highway Safety Child Safety Seat Display & Seat Belt Safety
RSVP Display Table
State Fire Marshall Mobile Display Unit
Sussex County EMS First Aid Station/Medical Resource Unit/Misting Fans
Sussex County EOC Command Unit
Wal-Green's/Happy Harry's Emergency Items/Display Table
Wal Mart Display Table w/Safety & Emergency items
Wal-Mart 18 Wheeler TruckW/Safe Driving Features & Cars

Food Vendors
Edie's Grand Ice Cream
Wal-Mart-Georgetown
McDonalds

Goldey-Beacom CERT Training

On Aug 22 members of the State Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) taught a CERT Class to the Resident Assistants of Goldey-Beacom College. The Point-Of-Contact for the event was Taft McConkie a Sophomore at the college helped schedule the training at the campus as part of his Eagle Scout Project along with Corinthian Ridgeway Assistant Coordinator of Housing and Resident Life.

New Citizen Corps Council in Sussex

We would like to welcome our newest Citizen Corps Council, Sussex County. This CCC is sponsored by Joe Thomas and the County Emergency Management in Georgetown. Their initial efforts will focus on Community Emergency Response Training and working with the local towns to help form new councils throughout Sussex. Their POC is Carl Davis. (See Councils for more information).

Good Luck Ed and Bill!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank both COL (Ret.) Ed Smith, the Delaware Homeland Security Advisor and Chaplain Bill Williams, Pastor to Cedar Church of Christ for their volunteer service to our Citizen Corps Programs. Both of these men have accepted positions that will take them out of Delaware. Ed, will be assigned to FEMA and Chaplain Bill has accepted a position in Florida. They have contributed much to Citizen Preparedness and these contributions are worthy of recognition. We will miss them!!! Good luck and thank you for your service.

Boy Scouts from Crew 610 help Coordinator prepare for CERT

A group of young scouts and their leader Taft McConkie, assisted Marny McLee, State CERT coordinator by preparing Student Manuals in preparation for upcoming training classes. This is part of an Eagle Project Taft is heading up, he is also a Sophomore at Goldey-Beacon College where he is helping McLee to coordinate a CERT Class to be held on Aug 22 at the campus.

August National Newsletter

National Citizen Corps has released their May/June 2007 Newsletter! You can view it here:

http://www.citizencorps.gov/pdf/newsletter/cc-newsletter-august2007.pdf

Bank of America Business CERT Training

On July 11th, the Delaware Citizen Corps State Community Emergency Response Team and the Wilmington Office of Emergency Management taught a Business CERT Course in Wilmington to the Bank of America. Twenty Managers and Supervisors attended the course which was very well received. Plans are now being developed to make the program available to the employees of Bank of America.

American Legion and Citizen Corps Update

Latest update on the American Legion and Delaware Citizen Corps partnership:

1. American Legion and Citizen Corps are affiliated partners

http://citizencorps.gov/programs/affiliate.shtm

2. The American Legion has been invited now sits on the State Citizen Corps Council.

3. A training program is being developed to provide a train-the-trainer for the Legion on Community Emergency Response Training (CERT).

4. A briefing on the CERT program was provided at Legion Post 2 on May 21 in Dover, DE.

5. MOU is under development and will reinforce the commitment between Citizen Corps and American Legion with regard to Citizen Preparedness.

As more information is released, it will be posted here on current events.

Program In Case of Emergency

Recent history has demonstrated that persons not prepared to deal with emergencies are more likely to end up becoming victims.

It takes a average of 5 hours and 51 minutes for family members to be contacted in an emergency. When you program an emergency contact into your cell phone under ICE - In Case of Emergency- you provide critical information to emergency personnel.

During these turbulent and uncertain times, we as citizens have been called upon to actively participate in preparing for our safety and survival.

If you, your family or group have special medical or support needs, it is important that you to take the time NOW to ensure they are addressed instead of wasting precious time during the chaos of a crisis. This is where ICE ( In Case of Emergency) can help. Just program ICE next to the name of the person you would want to be contacted then emergency workers will be able to contact them.

For more information, contact: Kathleen Aviles, Governor's Commission on Community and Volunteer Service Email: kathleen.aviles@state.de.us or Phone:800-815-5465

Communication Corps ARRL Field Day 2007

Amateur Radio operators joined together this past weekend at the Sussex County Airport in Georgetown, DE for the annual American Radio Relay League Field Day. This year was unlike other field day of the past. This year, special dignitaries including Governor Ruth Ann Minner, Secretary of Safety and Homeland Security David Mitchell, Sussex County Administrator David Baker, and Georgetown Mayor Mike Wyatt participated in the event. Both the Governor and Secretary called CQ on the radio to the thousands of radio operators from around the world for this special event.

Also in attendence was the Delaware State Police and Delaware Army National Guard which brought out their communications equipment to test interoperability with amateur radio operators. Using everything from voice, to Morse Code, to e-mail over radio, amateurs were able to pass messages all around the world during the 24-hour simulated emergency exercise.

During Field Day 2007, the State of Delaware, Sussex County, and City of Georgetown wrote proclamations for June 2007 as Amateur Radio Awareness Month. Amateur Radio operators across the state were regarded as the necessary communication assets when all other means of communication fail.

Click the slideshow above for pictures of the event!

3rd Annual Family Emergency Preparedness Day

SAVE THE DATE: 3rd Annual Family Emergency Preparedness Day Event

WHEN: August 25, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

WHERE: Delaware Technical Community College, Georgetown DE.

Displays, free training, fun and educational!!!

An Event for the WHOLE Family

Hosted by: Sussex County Emergency Operations Center & Delaware Technical and Community College

Sponsor organizations include, DEMA, Citizen Corps, American Red Cross, State Office of Volunteerism, Retired Senor Volunteer Program (RSVP) Dept Of Health, and the Ocean View PD and local Citizen Corps Council.

Click here to view the flyer!

El folleto en Español

May/June 2007 Newsletter

National Citizen Corps has released their May/June 2007 Newsletter! You can view it here:

http://www.citizencorps.gov/pdf/newsletter/cc-newsletter-may-june2007.pdf

Updated Brochures

Check out the updated Animals in Disaster, Delaware Citizen Corps, and CERT brochures in the Resources section of the website:

http://www.delawarecitizencorps.org/resources

NEW Local Citizen Corps Council

The Town of Milton has established a local Citizen Corps council. The local council has the sponsorship of the local Police Dept and Chief Phillips. They plan to form a Neighborhood Watch Program. More to come!!!

Citizen Corps & American Legion Update

Citizen Corps has met with Mr. Don White the Commander of the American Legion in Delaware to establish a partnership and a path forward. Citizen Corps has established the Legion as an official member of the State Citizen Corps Council. The two programs also are planing to make Community Emergency Response training available to members of the American Legion. Bob George agreed to brief CERT to the Dover Post on May 21.

Medical Readiness Corps CERT Training in Wilmington

Click the picture above to see images from the March 3rd, 2007 CERT Training for the Medical Readiness Corps.

CERT at DHSS Substance Abuse & Mental Health

Click the picture above to see images from the March 13th, 2007 CERT Training for DHSS.

Dover DHSS Substance and Abuse & Mental Health

Click the picture above to see images from the March 20th, 2007 CERT Training for DHSS.

HOW PREPARED IS YOUR BUSINESS?

Do you and your employees have a disaster plan and Kit?
“An investment in planning today will not only help protect your business investment and your livelihood, but will also support your employees.

In an effort to assist business with Disaster Preparedness, Planning and Response, The DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY has made available a WEB site,
That will address:

• How to stay in business if a Disaster occurs
  
• Talking to your people!!
  
• Protecting your investment!!

Click here to go to READY BUSINESS

New Disaster Preparedness Video

Citizen Corps has partnered with American Red Cross, State Office of Volunteerism, Retried Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), the Delaware Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health. The purpose is to develop a new 10 minute video/DVD that will address Disaster Plans, Making a disaster Kit and more. Look for it in the near future!!!

New Prepardness material available

Information is now available on our web site under Resources that address Citizen Preparedness and includes your Animals as a part of your whole Disaster Plan. Go to Resource than click on appropriate Brochures or Presentation that address Citizen Preparedness or Animals in Disaster.

Citizen Preparedness for people with Disabilities

All Hazards All Citizens- A Prepare Delaware initiative

March 29, 2007 – A new Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities was developed and issued this month by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The document provides general information to assist in identifying the needs of people with disabilities related to emergency evacuation planning.

3rd Annual Family Emergency Preparedness Day Event

SAVE THE DATE: 3rd Annual Family Emergency Preparedness Day Event
WHEN: August 25, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
WHERE: Delaware Technical Community College, Georgetown DE.

Displays, free training, fun and educational!!!

An Event for the WHOLE Family

Hosted by: Sussex County Emergency Operations Center & Delaware Technical and Community College

Sponsor organizations include, DEMA, Citizen Corps, American Red Cross, State Office of Volunteerism, Retired Senor Volunteer Program (RSVP) Dept Of Health, and the Ocean View PD and local Citizen Corps Council.

New Website Up and Running!

The Delaware Citizen Corps team has been busy designing a new website that is more interactive and intuitive for citizens of the State. If you're interested in keeping your family prepared, you can find a lot of information about disasters, CERT Training, and how to volunteer in your community on the site. Make sure you bookmark the site because we will have new pictures and events updated often!