Salvation Army to Hold Emergency Disaster Training in Toccoa This Spring

During a disaster, The Salvation Army relies upon trained disaster workers to coordinate emergency relief operations and deliver fast, efficient services to disaster survivors.

Those workers are typically volunteers and this spring, the Toccoa Salvation Army office will be offering two training opportunities for those interested in helping others during a disaster.

Toccoa center Director Rebecca Dixon says there are three classes being offered on May 2 and May 3.

The first she said is an Introduction to The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services, which she said covers the basics of being a Salvation Army disaster worker.

“You may be interested to see how we do develop in an emergency. We never know in our area when we might be the ones that are receiving assistance because of tornados, flooding, or ice storms,” she said. “And we want to be ready so we can serve our own area but also so we can respond to our Georgia neighbors and maybe even to Alabama or Mississippi in our territory.”

But there are also two other optional classes after that. The second is how to recognize signs of abuse in children and those in care.

“The next class is called, Safe from Harm. This educates individuals on the prevention of abuse or accidental injury for children or vulnerable adults. And I can see immediately that there would be a lot of professionals and caregivers that might be interested in that class whether or not you’re interested in being part of a disaster class,” she said.

And the third class of the day is how to handle food safely.

“The class called, Serve Safe Food Handler is actually a part of the National Restaurant Association. And these classes are taught all over by lots of different entities,” Dixon said. “We use it, of course, for serving food during a disaster, operating the canteen, serving food safely but we also use it in our shelters, our emergency shelters. We also use it anytime there is a group gathering in our facility as well as in our food bank.”

All three classes combined are designed to prepare a volunteer to go into a disaster zone to help those in need.

Dixon said they have had volunteers from our area in the past go to major national disasters such as 911 and serve for 14 days.

Dixon said the classes are open to anyone who is interested in becoming a Salvation Army Disaster volunteer but also for people who would just like the information for their job or personal information.

“We welcome anyone to come. This is free of charge. And particular to the first day of training we have two classes that day, morning and afternoon. So a light lunch will be served. The third class, the food handler class will be on May 3. If you want to come just for Safe from Harm you are welcome to register only for that one and show up only for that class. So you can do all of them. You can do a section of them. You can even go on the Website and look at other classes that you might be registered in,” Dixon explained.

Again the Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services training courses are being held May 2 and 3 at the Salvation Army offices in Toccoa.

To get more information on those other classes or to register you can go online to www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org.

The deadline to register is April 25.