CERT Team Continues To Serve And Grow A Decade After Its Start
Deputy Chief Jim Walker updates the Mahaska County CERT Team about needed information from the past month, and upcoming training opportunities.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County CERT Team is a group of volunteers who come together to serve the people of Mahaska County, and its first responders.
CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team. The program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness.
After storms hammered Mahaska County earlier this year, these volunteers showed up with gloves, chain saws, and a spirit of service.
They helped communities like Fremont recover from a storm that knocked roofs off homes, and tore branches from trees, creating a mess that kept streets temporarily closed to through traffic. Mahaska County CERT helped to tackle that mess, opening up the community.
They also help with traffic control, freeing up first responder resources.
Mahaska County CERT is a non-profit group that lives under the Mahaska County Emergency Management umbrella.
Last year, the Mahaska County CERT Team raised approximately $65,000 through organizations. There is $2,000 of tax dollars from Mahaska County Emergency Management that goes to the team yearly in things like safety equipment.
CERT buys the ice, sports drinks, and extra water they may need to assist first responders, even during training scenarios. This doesn’t cost those departments anything for that assistance.
Mahaska County Emergency Manager Jamey Robinson said that the CERT Team continues to grow in numbers, but the requests for its services does as well.
“Not only in the county (Mahaska), but surrounding counties as well,” added Robinson.
The team has recently assisted in Grinnell and along RAGBRAI.
The non-profit group has received many donations, not just monetary, but items they can use to assist others. Those donations are then used to buy equipment, training equipment, and remodel their training facilities.
The CERT Team recently bought a used rescue truck that will be outfitted with chainsaws and other response equipment. “The scope of CERT is very large. They will help wherever they’re needed and go wherever they need to go,” says Robinson.
CERT Team members continue to file into their training room at the Mahaska County Emergency Management building for this month’s monthly meeting and training session. An item to be discussed during the meeting will be what could be done better, or other needs they noticed after those recent deployments to Grinnell and Centerville.
The CERT Team has grown since its earliest of days in the County. It started as two teams, one at the North Mahaska School with student volunteers, the second was at the Jubilee Family Church in Oskaloosa.
Deputy Chief Jim Walker joined CERT as part of that initial group from Jubilee Family Church approximately ten years ago. Since then, he and several others have dedicated countless hours in assisting others and helping to provide CPR training to babysitters, caretakers, and other interested individuals and businesses.
Walker says his interest in serving others stems back to high school when he worked in the emergency room. He wanted to become a surgical technician and didn’t have the money, so he spent his working days in a factory.
“And then the opportunity came through our church. We started talking about being prepared for whatever happens. My interest has always been in the emergency fields,” says Walker of the initial spark towards CERT.
Today, Walker has the responsibility to keep the non-profit organization functional and funded.
Walker calls it a “learning experience” as the group has grown.
They first started working on their 501c3 back in 2010, earning that designation in 2016. Until then they worked on a very limited budget, holding garage sales and other fundraisers to earn money to purchase their needed equipment. After receiving their non-profit status, the group became eligible for grants and other funds from around the country.
Walker will tell you that he’s not good at writing grants, but with the help of Jamey Robinson, they’ve been able to get some of those grants.
Now that Walker is retired from his job in the factory, he spends more time working on CERT. From helping to keep the organization funded, training, and maintaining equipment, Walker has a full-time job once again. Except this time, it’s something he loves.
“It’s my belief we’re here to help each other out,” says Walker of why he dedicates himself to CERT.
As for his vision of CERT, Walker says the program is “already far beyond what we thought when we started. Here we were, a little group, and now we’re known in the state.”
“We’re there to help individuals, whether it’s fire rehab, cleaning up brush,” says Walker. He says he has a team that loves people and they love to help. “There’s no paycheck. There’s no nothing. It’s their own free time.”
If you would like to learn more about joining the CERT Team in Mahaska County, you can find them on the internet at https://mahaskaready.com/cert
