McQuiston Trust Donation To Aid Community
McQuiston Trust Donation presentation from left to right; Jamey Robinson, Jim Walker, Sandy Bailey, Andy Davis, Andrew Ritland. Not pictured, Bob Wersen.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County CERT Team received a substantial donation from the W.L. McQuiston Community Trust this past week.
The Trust donated $29,600 to CERT to better equip their training facility located within the old Oskaloosa Bus Barn.
Mahaska County Emergency Management owns the building itself, but CERT has built and upgraded a room within the building to host training sessions. Those sessions are not only for CERT but for other groups within the community, such as the Sheriff’s Posse, Mahaska County Attorney’s Office and more.
CERT also hosts free CPR classes within the facility, helping entities like the YMCA save a substantial amount of money. Over 600 people have been trained this year in CPR.
In addition to CPR, Stop the Bleed training has been provided to the public.
The initial seed money to build the training room came from the Joan Farver Spirit Award that CERT Captain Jim Walker was awarded.
In addition, Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC made a $20,000 donation, while additional funds from Mid-American Energy were made available. Those funds will be used in conjunction with the McQuiston Trust money for the project.
The room will become capable of being a cooling and warming shelter for the community during times of need.
The plans to help ready that space include a generator, an additional bathroom with a shower. The idea is to have the facility ready by spring.
MidWestOne administers the W.L. McQuiston Community Trust, and awards are granted through recommendations by the city of Oskaloosa and Mahaska County and a volunteer board of the Trust.
