What do Project Runway, Home Depot Tarp and CERT have in common?

Fairfax County CERT had an exhibit at the Capital Home Show (September 24-26 in Dulles, VA). TV's Project Runway stopped by the booth to model the dress made from a Home Depot tarp - clothes for any disaster.

Additional information about CERT at the home show can be found at http://fairfaxcountycert.blogspot.com

Scanners May Be Your Only Option To Know If Help Is On The Way

In CERT, we learn "Following a major disaster, first responders who provide fire and medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. Factors as number of victims, communication failures, and road blockages will prevent people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moment's notice through 911. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs." (www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about)

You call 911 and you are unable to get through. How do you know if help is arriving and how bad is the situation?

One option is to find your local emergency agency on a scanner. The following website provides live feeds from across the country.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/

For additional tips, visit http://www.facebook.com/citizencorps

National Preparedness Month - Volunteer Mobilization Exercise

Volunteers Needed: Emergency Preparedness Exercise

Individuals are needed Saturday, September 25, 2010 to act as mock emergency volunteers.

Volunteer Fairfax, the Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management, and the Fairfax County Health Department will be testing their Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) plans, which assign volunteers to the needs of emergency response and recovery specialists.

If you are interested in acting as an emergency volunteer for this event or would like additional information, please contact Volunteer Fairfax.

This exercise is also being done in coordination with other volunteer agencies in the region. If you are interested in participating but not local to Fairfax, please contact your local volunteer agency to see if they are participating or contact Volunteer Fairfax for a list of other participating agencies.

Our Blog and Facebook Page are a Ready.gov Coalition Partner are you?

Neighbors Helping Neighbors has been contacted by the FEMA Office of External Affairs to help share the "Emergency Preparedness" message on our blog for September.

"Greetings:

I am writing to see if I can interest your blog in a topic for September – emergency preparedness.

National Preparedness Month (NPM), sponsored by FEMA’s Ready Campaign, is a national campaign during the month of September to increase emergency preparedness across the U.S. I am currently reaching out to emergency and disaster-related blogs to ask for help in encouraging Americans to take steps toward preparedness. Slightly more than half of Americans say they have taken steps toward preparedness, and your blog would be a great place to encourage the rest to get prepared.

You can find information about the Ready Campaign and National Preparedness Month at Ready.gov, and I can provide you with additional information or answer any of your questions. This is such an important, yet often forgotten task, not just during National Preparedness Month, but year-round. We would be delighted if your blog would consider supporting preparedness.

Thank you in advance for your support,

... on behalf of
The Ready Campaign
Office of External Affairs
Federal Emergency Management Agency
npm@dhs.gov"

Readers of our blog, who have their own blog and facebook page, such as http://www.facebook.com/citizencorps should also spread this message of "Emergency Preparedness".

Fairfax County Declares September Emergency Preparedness Month

The Board of Supervisors designated September 2010 as Emergency Preparedness Month in Fairfax County.

Pictured above are staff from Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management and Citizen Corps representatives.

"Residents of Fairfax County are encouraged to prepare themselves and their families for emergencies by organizing an emergency supply kit; formulating a personal preparedness plan; becoming knowledgeable about various threats; and becoming involved in preparing their community." (Source: www.fairfaxcounty.gov).

In addition, "the Board of Supervisors designated Aug. 3 as National Night Out in Fairfax County. The Fairfax County Police Department sponsors National Night Out to promote the importance of community-police partnerships, neighborhood safety and public awareness of crime prevention programs."

Red Cross makes a difference at Ft. Belvoir

The American Red Cross hosted a Preparedness Kit-making event at Ft. Belvoir for military families.

Checkout the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFPbPTxxdS4

Additional discussions about National Preparedness Month can be found at http://www.facebook.com/citizencorps

What happened to all the volunteer coordinators?

Recently it seems like less and less volunteer newsletters and correspondence from non-profits are being received. Less communication across the board.

Communication that is received appears to be primarily through Facebook groups, with articles of national interest, not related to the local community.

Could it be the days of one-on-one communication is a thing of the past?

What could be the root to this?

Could it be the organizations are focusing more on corporations for major donations (to sustain their staff) with less focus on the volunteers?

Or could it be a lot less complicated? With the economy, we have seen many positions cut and staff turn-over (due to low salaries) at non-profits, along with a change of focus. Could it be that the non-profits can no longer afford to focus on the individual active volunteer?

Could it be that the people who were best at communication and working one-on-one with volunteers are no longer there?

Recently when trying to reach out to a volunteer coordinator, it was determined, she was no longer with the organization. When going to the website to see who the new contact was, no one was listed. You needed to re-register as a volunteer, for someone to contact you.

This does not make sense. When a staff member moves on, so do the volunteers? How can we avoid this and keep the momentum going with staff turn-over?

Solving the problem, if THERE IS a problem

The lesson here might be with a volunteer management system. Another Citizen Corps Affiliate organization has a volunteer registration system and when the staff member moved on, communication actually increased and the new staff member was very responsive to emails.

Another example, with a Citizen Corps core program where a few people moved on to other roles, that system maintained the list of volunteers, but communications has lessened. Hopes are that with National Preparedness Month just around the corner this will pick up.

In summary, good people help motivate good volunteers. When staff moves on, the volunteers shouldn't. Non-profits need to understand this is an issue.

Communication is key to sustaining the volunteer workforce. A very simple concept, but an issue that should not be overlooked.