The American Legion Auxiliary (ALA), through its National Security Program, calls upon ALA members to maintain strong communities at home. Part of that includes being prepared for natural and man-made emergencies that might occur.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed a program to prepare citizens for emergency response. FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates community members on disaster preparedness in their local communities. Training is offered on four topics: fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Once trained, CERT members can assist their communities in preparing for and responding to emergencies.
Training in community emergency response is a great way for an individual ALA member to fulfill her service obligation independent of others. It’s also a great opportunity for an ALA unit to organize a group of ALA members to train together.
The ALA encourages members to serve as CERT members to identify themselves as such, as doing so brings visibility of ALA to community members who may not know us.
Please also be sure to report your volunteer activities and hours to your unit’s National Security chairman, the committee with oversight of ALA's homeland security activities.
