CERT Meeting Ideas: Activities to Inspire and Engage Your Neighborhood Volunteers

IRVINE, Calif. - May 27, 2015 - PRLog -- Neighborhood emergency response groups are essential to the overall preparedness of our nation – but keeping volunteers interested and committed is a challenge.

After 12 years of planning monthly meetings, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) graduate Virginia Nicols has pulled together a collection of starter ideas for other neighborhood leaders.

“Not everyone wants to talk about crises, and danger, and even death, month after month,” says Nicols. “We try to keep meetings upbeat and active, while still adding valuable content.”

Nicols emphasizes that these are not “official” FEMA training materials. Rather, they are ideas that have been tested in the field with people at all skill levels, some of whom have never attended a CERT class. The emphasis is on common sense preparations and being ready to respond.

The book starts with “successful meeting” guidelines, then goes on to describe 24 basic activities, with

Title

Objective

Procedure

Materials needed

Comments

With slight variations, most of the ideas can be used again and again. The comments section contains suggestions and an occasional warning.

The book is downloadable from the internet as a pdf, available for purchase at http://emergencyplanguide.org/cert-meeting-ideas/

EmergencyPlanGuide.org is managed by Virginia S. Nicols and Joseph Krueger. The site has over 200 informational articles about different aspects of emergency preparedness and survival. Its emphasis is on making sure neighbors and co-workers are prepared, since they will be the true First Responders in a widespread emergency. Krueger and Nicols have various CERT and Red Cross certifications and have headed up their local emergency response team for over 12 years. During that time it has activated for two fires and three gas main breaks – and received recognition from the City for its prompt action.