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ARTICLE. Full Coastside CERT newsletter at bottom of post.
Happy New Year!
We begin this year with more than a thousand people participating in Coastside CERT, which along the way has become the fastest growing volunteer emergency preparation organization in the region. Continuing growth calls for scaling up our volunteer leadership to stay responsive to our members. I am pleased to announce our expanding team.
First, please join me in thanking Emily Kim for her invaluable leadership during our startup year in the
revitalization of Coastside CERT. Emily has resigned from her position as Coastside CERT Coordinator but will continue to be active in her neighborhood, involved in our CERT and Ham communities, and has offered to continue harnessing my random thoughts into messages that can be shared with all of you. (You may or may not know how lucky you are for that!) Thank you Emily!
Coastside CERT has always been an informal hub-and-spoke organization with core functions of basic training and ongoing safety education, resources, communications, and multi-agency coordination provided at no charge to the public under the aegis of the Coastside Fire Protection District. The neighborhoods are the spokes of the program, with trained CERTs and other volunteers helping their own neighbors organize for safety and self-sufficiency in their 32 Coastside neighborhoods. The neighborhoods accomplish three basic objectives shaped by their unique priorities: 1) Individual Residence Preparedness 2) Neighborhood Emergency Response Planning 3) Incorporating Resilient Technologies.
Our new management team is scaling up to support continued growth in the neighborhoods. Core leadership members will continue their key neighborhood roles as they step into positions that support the entire Coastside CERT program.
I will remain as overall Program Manager and Lead Instructor. Cynthia Sherrill will continue to be
responsible for core functions with a considerably expanded team:
– Public Information Officer (PIO) & Storyteller: Kathleen Campana (Moss Beach)
– Central Roster: Michele Duke & Forrest Wunderlich (El Granada)
– Maps, Newsletters, & Website: Peihua Ku (El Granada)
– Research Librarian: Joyce Logan (Cañada Cove)
For now, Cynthia will continue to head up other core functions including fundraising, Listos California grant compliance & 501(c)(3), organizing educational programs and drills, Coastside CERT email, central scheduling, and multi-agency coordination while continuing to expand and strengthen the core management team.
While Branch 1 (Montara to Frenchman’s Creek) and Branch 2 (Kehoe/Casa del Mar to Rural South Half Moon Bay) operate jointly as Coastside CERT for core functions supporting all neighborhoods, the neighborhoods themselves are growing by leaps and bounds. To support them, we are thrilled to announce two outstanding new Branch 1 Co-Coordinators: April Larsen (El Granada) and Jenny Goshorn (Frenchman’s Creek) who will support the leads and data managers in Branch 1’s ten neighborhoods.
Branch 2 will also have two Co-Coordinators for its twenty-two neighborhoods – stay tuned to this space. Until then, Cynthia and the core leadership team will continue to support leads and data managers as they develop their neighborhood teams and branch-wide leaders emerge. It takes patience, perseverance and a willingness to step out of one’s comfort zone for the greater good to organize neighborhoods. Thankfully, Coastsiders have those qualities in abundance.
There is much to look forward to in this coming year. The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is reorganizing and will embed its members in Coastside CERT neighborhoods and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is organizing Ham radio operators to do the same. ARES is also working on a Coastside-wide radio command plan. The Half Moon Bay Amateur Radio Club (HMBARC) is closely allied with Coastside CERT and flourishing. Red Cross, Disaster Aviation Response Team (DART), Large Animal Evacuation Group (LAEG), and the Peninsula Humane Society are all actively doing their parts. The Coastside Emergency Action Program (CEAP) and Coastside Emergency Corps (CEC) are focusing on developing a unified emergency response plan among all Coastside agencies.
We have a full year of grant-sponsored basic training through Spring, Summer and Fall CERT courses and advanced classes for everyone who wants to avail themselves of this free and valuable training. Our family-oriented Listos emergency preparedness instruction program is endeavoring to gain traction in Spanish and English.
We are sharing stories of neighbor-to-neighbor responses, neighborhood-to-neighborhood supportive actions, best practices, grassroots classes, and community innovations in resilient technologies. Our new 501(c)(3) nonprofit fundraising designation will enable Coastside CERT to accept donations and pursue non-profit grants to fund operations not covered by our Listos California state grant.
In every way, the remarkable success we have enjoyed this past year and all that we will accomplish this coming year reflects the community spirit and will of Coastside residents to live in mutual preparedness, support, and safety in this magnificent yet fragile environment we call home.
Thank you,
Half Moon Bay/Coastside Battalion Chief David Cosgrave
Note Typo for Option 1, Day 2, Saturday, March 6th, is really the 7th.
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Full January Coastside CERT Newsletter
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.coastsidebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Coastside-CERT-Newsletter-January-2020.pdf” title=”Coastside CERT Newsletter January 2020″]
Author: Coastside Buzz
Me
