#jerseycares

On the anniversary of 9/11, World Cares Center remembers the sacrifice and leadership that people across the country and world made as crisis forced them to become extraordinary first responders.  World Cares Center was formed in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks to bring effective action to tackle the most formidable emergencies.   We continue to believe that the best action we can take, and help others take, is to be prepared for emergency response through training, organizational readiness, and coordination of volunteer manpower.  All this month, we’ve asked New Yorkers to pledge their partnership with the My Good Deed’s I Will Campaign.  This grassroots campaign asks all of us - individuals, family members, and neighborhood leaders – to take personal action steps to prepare for disasters and emergencies.

What action can you take this September 11th to help you and your community move one step closer to being ready for an emergency?  Perhaps it’s creating a call tree to make sure older neighbors are in the loop for emergency notifications or taking a CPR class so you can help with medical needs that arise in a crisis or join us at Jersey Cares for a Disaster Volunteer Training. These small commitments add up and become powerful allies in the fight against disasters and crisis situations because they are planned and practiced before the crisis occurs.

Individual action is one of the cornerstones of the emergency response community.  It starts with one person, but that one person doesn’t work alone.  At World Cares Center, we train organizations and community leaders to mobilize all those individual efforts into a cohesive, response force that can be called upon when needed to effectively deal with emergencies.  Our organization’s action plan includes training, organizational preparedness and readiness assessment, and coordination efforts that all serve the same purpose – to make the most of individual, voluntary efforts during times of crisis.  We train community leaders who may one day emerge from their homes and businesses to spontaneously assist in a crisis.  We train professional emergency managers who will be charged with the overall coordination in a disaster.  We also train senior citizens and youth to be active neighbors ready to support their community in an emergency. 

As we remember the victims of 9/11 and their families, and as we pledge to do more, give more, let’s remember that all the individual efforts add up to something powerful when a whole community is trained and ready for the challenge. 

Q: The smartest way to prepare for a disaster? A: Train for it well before it happens. For many nonprofit organizations that help communities prepare for emergency response, volunteers are the lifeline for effective preparedness.  World Cares Center has an extensive offering of training programs that support volunteers at the grassroots level.  On September 12th, as part of their Grassroots Readiness and Response training series, World Cares Center will provide a disaster volunteer training for Jersey Cares’ staff and volunteers.  Through this training, leaders in emergency management prepare volunteers to:

Understand the mindset and personal attributes most needed to be an effective disaster volunteer

Assess which volunteer roles need to be filled in a particular disaster situation

Learn about the core skills needed to be a disaster volunteer

Learn self care practices that keep volunteers healthy throughout a crisis

The training is organized into 5 lessons that include:  disaster management concepts, centers of support (volunteer reception centers and points of distribution), volunteer roles, volunteering core competencies, and self care.  To learn more about this and other trainings offered by World Cares Center, see our website: www.worldcares.org.