Sunday, March 29, 2009

St. John's Mission Spotlight:

St. John’s is a designated Red Cross shelter, which means St. John’s may be called upon to provide the facilities and staff to house those temporarily displaced due to a calamity such as a hurricane or a flood. When we do get called up to be a shelter, St. John’s members provide a variety of functions using detailed checklists provided by the Red Cross:

Shelter Management: Provide administrative support and supervision for all the functions in the shelter.· Registration: Manage the arrival and movement in and out of the shelter of the occupants.·
Feeding: Supervise food preparation and service.·
Sleeping/Dorm Management: Assign and set up sleeping areas for the occupants.·
Health Services: In conjunction with a DHS consultant see to the occupants’ health and safety issues.·
Staff Recruitment/Placement: Recruit, place and support the staff assigned to the shelter.· Client Services: Organize the occupants for child care, entertainment, and transportation.·
Logistics:
Procure, store, and distribute supplies and equipment for the shelter.
The Red Cross also sends a representative to support the shelter.

We currently have 17 volunteers to support this operation, but it should be noted that shelter operations run 24 hours a day and not all volunteers are always available. Therefore we are always looking for people who might be willing to pitch in if we are called to respond to a disaster. If you are interested, please contact Bill Ehrenstrom.
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