Become a Red Cross shelter volunteer; training slated Thursday, July 30

Posted on July 24, 2015

American Red Cross and Taylor County Emergency Management will offer a “shelter fundamentals class and exercise” training day Thursday, July 30, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Taylor County Elementary School.

“Please plan on joining us for the entire day to become fully trained as a Red Cross shelter worker,” said Taylor County Emergency Management Coordinator Kristy Anderson.

The morning session will focus on shelter fundamentals, which is a basic level course that introduces the guidelines and procedures for setting up, running and closing a shelter during a disaster.

Participants will work on a case study that takes them through four of the six phases of the sheltering cycle: opening, organizing, operating and closing a Red Cross shelter.

The afternoon session will be a shelter fundamentals exercise, which allows participants to practice
the knowledge they gained in the morning’s shelter fundamentals course.

“It is a ‘hands on’ skills-based exercise. The exercise will be conducted in the actual shelter facility for Taylor County which will make the exercise more realistic as participants carry out the tasks of shelter workers,” Anderson said.

Classroom participants must attend the entire course and complete the classroom activities to earn a course certificate.

To register for the class, please e-mail Nicole King at nicole.king@redcross.org.