The 1st week of June was National CERT Week.
Since its formation in 2018, the Van Wert County CERT has assisted the community in the following ways:
Fire Scenes – 27 (canteen and family assistance)
Assisted 35 Adults, 24 Children, 3 Pets, and 3 Fatalities
Traffic Control – 7
Storm damage – 3
CERT Chairman Mark Klausing states, “The “C” in CERT is what this whole thing is based upon, COMMUNITY. When Disaster strikes, this team works within our community to take care of their own people. No national hotline to call, no waiting hours or days for help, speaking directly to a person from their own community, and knowing that the donations to this organization stay within our community. Those are the things that the community wanted and asked for, and thanks to Rick McCoy (EMA Director of Van Wert County) you now have it.”
Klausing also states: “I will admit, starting this team was pretty scary. We heard what the community wanted, could we pull it off was the question.” Starting in 2015, McCoy and Klausing went around the state and bench marked other county CERT programs to learn strategies to successfully run the program. After several meetings with community leaders and a core of potential volunteers, we decided to activate a team on February 1st of 2018. We could not be more pleased with the acceptance the community has given us. With large donations from United Way, LifeHouse Church, Walmart, and Venedocia Lions Club we were able to get the team off the ground. As a result, we were able to respond to several situations and show the community what we could do. Other organizations and community members then stepped up to financially help keep us moving. We can’t do it without your support.
If you would like to financially support the Van Wert County CERT, please send checks to Van Wert County Foundation/CERT at 138 E. Main St. Van Wert, OH 45891
If you are interested in volunteering, go to our Facebook page, Van Wert County CERT, and fill out an application. You can also call the Van Wert EMA office at 419-238-1300.
