Preparing
for Winter Emergencies
Citizen Corps Hosts Safety Seminar
(Postponed from December)
We all know how challenging Maine winters can be.
But we get used to them. Perhaps sometimes we take
our winter safety a little too much for granted. Do
you have enough warm clothes in your car if you get
stuck off the highway? What if you are on a rural
road and you need to walk to the nearest house? Should
you leave your car?
Come to a free Winter Emergencies presentation and
discussion at the next Gray Region Citizen Corps (GRCC)
meeting. Learn how to be prepared for getting stuck
outside (in your car or in the open). Learn about
the best clothes and equipment, what to do, what not
to do, and what can go wrong.
This seminar was postponed from December due to an
early winter storm.
Be prepared!
This is a great, educational, family event. The seminar
will take place at Stimson Hall in the center of Gray
(next to the monument) on Friday, January 13th at
6:30 PM. The leader will be Brad Rounds of the American
Red Cross. Brad is also a Registered Maine Guide and
is the education director for the Maine Association
for Search and Rescue.
This meeting will also be noteworthy for its election
of officers for 2006. Mark D. Grover, the current
Executive Director of the GRCC, is not running for
re-election. He has completed two terms of office,
after organizing the group in mid-2003. The group
became incorporated as a charitable non-profit at
the start of 2004.
The Gray Region Citizen Corps also encourages local
residents to answer a skills survey available in the
lobby of the Gray Public Safety Building. This allows
the information to be entered into its database. During
a regional disaster such as the Ice Storm of 1998,
citizens in the database can be contacted to help
their neighbors.
Volunteer skills are needed for tasks ranging from
delivering groceries to taking care of pets. Without
such a database of skills and interests of the citizenry,
local disaster response by volunteers will be slow
and disorganized. The Citizen Corps cannot be an effective
organization without active citizen participation,
and is in need of members.
The Gray Region Citizen Corps (GRCC) volunteers provide
monthly safety and emergency preparedness seminars,
generally on the second Friday of the month, to residents
from Yarmouth to Casco. Past monthly seminar topics
have included chainsaw safety, home fire extinguisher
practice, pet first aid, and cooking without electricity.
More information about the federal Citizen Corps program
may be found at http://www.citizencorps.gov. The local
group is in the process of establishing a website
at http://www.grccme.org. The Citizen Corps motto
is "Uniting Communities -- Preparing the Nation".
The local group publishes a periodic electronic newsletter.
E-mail to the group may be sent to info@grccme.org.
Phone messages for the GRCC may be left with Gray
Public Safety at 657-3931. The Gray Region Citizen
Corps is an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable corporation.
Donations are tax-deductible.
