Happy New Year, Galveston County CERT Family!
I hope that the holiday season has been especially kind and a blessing to you and all your loved ones this year!
As we begin a new year, our CERT team is facing new challenges and difficulties that we are trying to overcome. Our largest challenge will be replacing the monies that we have historically received to fund our training and administration. We have lost $85,000 dollars in federal grant money that is possibly being held up by federal lawsuits between many states and the federal government over Homeland Security concerns. This money may be restored, but no one knows when or to what degree. Therefore, we have been looking at other grant opportunities and donation pathways to support our efforts.
I have recently applied to the Galveston Daily News for a community grant for $5000 and they are in the process of reviewing the applicants.
We have been conducting a donation campaign on Better World and many of our members and community individuals have been very generous. We have raised $2800, and we will use these funds to conduct our business in January. We are still looking to raise more money and if you know of businesses or foundations that we can contact please send the information to John’s email.
We will conduct a meeting on January 7th, and it will be held at the Pioneer House next to Carbide Park. The meeting will start at 6:30 pm. I will present a more thorough State of the Team during the meeting to allow all to understand the challenges that we face.
We will conduct the following training classes in January:
On Saturday, January 10th, we will hold the inaugural DART training. We will learn about the chainsaws, pole saws, and other equipment that we had donated or purchased. We will learn to maintain the equipment and the PPE (personal protective equipment). We will do a live cut and learn to use our team SOPs to clear fallen trees. This training will be conducted on private property in Algoa off Hwy 6, not far from Santa Fe High School. The training will be from 8 am to around 2 pm. Please follow this link to register to attend.
The Logistics Team training for January 17th is cancelled at this time.
The Drone Team will train on Saturday, January 24th, at Walter Hall Park in the North Pavilion (covered outdoor picnic area), starting at 8 am and ending around 1 pm. Please follow this link to register to attend.
The meeting and training courses for February are on hold depending on available funding.
I hope to see you at our meeting on January 7th, and I am looking forward to a wonderful year ahead with you preparing to assist our neighbors when help is needed!
John Herrmann