AAACERT Has a New Logo
We are proud to introduce our new logo. After over two years of planning and many rounds of votes and edits, members have chosen this logo and we couldn’t be more excited.
News and Alerts
Informational articles, links, and stories.
ALX VA Newsletter Jan 2023
From our friends at Alexandria VA CERT.
Please keep in mind the contact information you see in this newsletter are specific to Alexandria VA unless otherwise noted.
This new issue of the Alexandria CERT newsletter is for your pets: how to prepare yourself and them for disasters and things to do for them during and after disasters. You can also learn about CARTs — Community Animal Response Teams. Please share the newsletter with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
Please share the newsletter with family, friends, neighbors, and work colleagues.
Congrats, TEEN CERT Basic Class of October 2022!
Congratulations to the October 2022 Teen CERT Basic training class from Meade High School and Severn School. Each class participated in CERT training at their schools before coming together for the final exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. The class performed extremely well despite not knowing each other. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class, checkout our WEBSITE for more details or email our TRAINING team.
CERTCON 2022
Thank you to everyone who came out to the CERTCON 2022 event held in Alexandria, VA.
CERTCON is open to everyone interested in emergency preparedness and response, including volunteers for Medical Reserve Corps, Red Cross, Team Rubicon, among others. We encourage anyone, a member of CERT or not, to attend the 2023 CERTCON.
Check out the CERTCON website and links to photos.
EPLEX 2022
AAACERT is proud to have helped support the 2022 EPLEX event at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport on November 5, 2022 by providing over 30 volunteers to help first responders from the BWI Fire Department and surrounding jurisdictions train for a mass casualty incident such as a plane crash. Great moulage added to the realism. The scenario started with a mass casualty incident (nearby fire and 87 passengers in various states of distress). Firefighters and paramedics did initial triage, secondary triage, and then transported victims to a treatment area.
Check out our Facebook page for more photos provided by AAACERT member Rich Saad.
ALX VA Newsletter Nov-Dec 2022
From our friends at Alexandria VA CERT.
Please keep in mind the contact information you see in this newsletter are specific to Alexandria VA unless otherwise noted.
Here is the holiday edition of the CERT newsletter, with a focus hazards and safety tips for cooking. The second page of the newsletter covers safety for shopping online, winter travel, and preventing fires during the winter.
Please share the newsletter with family, friends, neighbors, and work colleagues.
CERTCON 2022 | Nov 18-20 | GW MS in Alexandria
Yes, you read that right, CERTCON. This event is open to EVERYONE, not just CERT members.
The National Capital Region has been hosting a CERTCON since 2011. This year marks the first year it will be hosted by the National Capital Region CERT Consortium (NCRC).
This multi-day event will feature sessions on community safety such as stop the bleed, emergency chef, and duct tape triage; just to name a few.
If you are not a member of a CERT, here is your opportunity to see some of the things a CERT member can volunteer to take part in while giving you the opportunity to speak to CERT members from around the region.
The three links below will provide more details about the NCRC, CERTCON, along with a flyer for this event.
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Show Your Sign – Recovery Month 2022
September is Recovery Month. Join the Anne Arundel County Department of Health’s campaign and SHOW US YOUR SIGN!
Elktonia Carr’s Beach Signing Ceremony
AAACERT was very proud to provide traffic and parking support to the City of Annapolis during the historic Elktonia Carr’s Beach Signing Ceremony.
The following snippet is from the Chesapeake Conservancy website at: https://www.chesapeakeconservancy.org/elktonia-beach/
Elktonia Beach, a 5-acre waterfront parcel on the Chesapeake Bay, is the last remnant of the original 180-acre property purchased by Fred Carr in 1902. Carr’s and Sparrow’s Beaches were privately-owned and operated by Fred Carr’s daughters, Elizabeth Carr Smith and Florence Carr Sparrow. The “Beaches” (1930s-1970s), as they were called, represented the heart of entertainment throughout the mid-Atlantic region and welcomed Blacks during a time of segregation.
Last CERT Basic Class of 2022
Friends, we need your help!
Please post this to your social feeds and ask your friends and family
members if they are interested.
Our last CERT Basic class of 2022 is quickly approaching and seats are still available. The first class is starting September 9th. Please visit our website for details on the class including scheduling, topics covered, and the sign up link.
Keep in mind you do NOT need to join AAACERT after completing CERT Basic. But you WILL have piece of mind knowing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ you can help yourself, your family, and your neighbors in the event of an emergency.
An emergency isn’t always a global catastrophe. Sever weather like tornadoes, micro-burst storms, and blizzards along with “normal” injuries are all examples we can and do face in every day life. CERT Basic class will provide you the knowledge to help UNTIL HELP ARRIVES.
2022 Emergency Preparedness Expo
We hope you will come out and join AAACERT and the Anne Arundel County Office of Emergency Management for the 2022 Emergency Preparedness Expo.
The expo will be held Saturday, September 17 from 10am-2pm at the Anne Arundel Community College Arundel Mills Campus.
This free, family-friendly event has hands-on displays, games, and activities for all ages provided by various County public safety agencies and our partners. This event is sponsored by the Anne Arundel County Office of Emergency Management as part of National Preparedness Month and is intended as a fun-filled way to learn about preparing for emergencies!
First Sundays with The Arc
The Arc, “…advocate(s) for equity and access for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live self-determined lives and foster opportunities towards self-sufficiency.”
Since June, AAACERT has been proud to set up our community tent next to The Arc Central Chesapeake Region during the First Sunday Arts Festival in Annapolis. AAACERT provided emergency and disaster preparedness material for visitors and answered questions about our mission and how people can better prepare themselves.
The Arc set up a very special tent where visitors, mainly children and young adults, would sit and paint their vision of what First Responders and Preparedness mean to them. They would first sketch out their ideas and once completed, they would paint them on a tile. All paintings will eventually come together in a tapestry-type display.
We look forward to working with The Arc on many more events in the future. We encourage you to check out their website at www.thearc.org
If you’d like to print out a copy of the emergency preparedness forms and checklists, visit our new BE PREPARED page on our website at www.aaacert.org/be-prepared/
National Night Out 2022, Thank You
We would like to thank everyone who visited our tents during the 2022 National Night Out event held at the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company in Severna Park and the Lula G. Scott Community Center in Shady Side. The sun was out, and the temps were high, but AAACERT members came prepared with fans, hats, and sunscreen.
We provided disaster preparedness materials to visitors including flash cards with checklists of items to have on hand during a disaster such as a violent storms like tornados, hurricanes, or major wind. We now offer these FEMA-created materials on our new BE PREPARED page. Check it out and print out your preparedness documents, today.
We are very grateful to our partners at Anne Arundel County OEM for allowing us to share their tent space. Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!
ALX VA Newsletter July-August 2022
Our friends at Alexandria VA CERT create very informative newsletters. We are happy to begin sharing them with the community at large.
Please keep in mind the contact information you see in this newsletter are specific to Alexandria VA unless otherwise noted.
This month’s newsletter highlights the new National Suicide Prevention Lifeline available by calling or texting 988. Please read for more information.
Hunger Hero Award 2022
Congratulations to AAACERT’s President, Bruce Morgenstern, for receiving the Hunger Hero Award Commitment to Service. During the pandemic, AAACERT’s all-volunteer members donated almost 8,000 hours of service. One of the organizations where members donated their hours was at the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. The following commnets are from the Facebook page of the AACFB. Please check out their website and consider making a donation.
Feeding Hope Event
Our Feeding Hope event was extremely successful, uplifting, and full of hope! The positive energy and excitement for our mission exuded from all event attendees. In total, the event raised over $65,000 with donations still coming in! Thanks to the generosity of our local business partners, the funds raised from this event allows us to purchase food for families experiencing food insecurity throughout our county.
Thank you to our presenting event sponsors Homestead Gardens and Sysco and to every Feeding Hope event supporter who helped us raise money to support our work to ensure everyone has enough to eat in Anne Arundel County!
Thank you to all the wonderful restaurants who are donating food:
Behind the Scenes Charcuterie, Byzantium Catering, the 2016 Chesapeake Chili Cook-Off Champion, Fishpaws Marketplace, Honey’s Farmhouse Retreat, Honey’s Harvest Farm, Luk Fu, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Bread & Butter Kitchen, The Prime Rib, and The Smoke Show – Craft BBQ
Behind the Scenes Charcuterie, Byzantium Catering, the 2016 Chesapeake Chili Cook-Off Champion, Fishpaws Marketplace, Honey’s Farmhouse Retreat, Honey’s Harvest Farm, Luk Fu, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Bread & Butter Kitchen, The Prime Rib, and The Smoke Show – Craft BBQ
Hunger Hero Awardee
Bruce Morgenstern | Commitment to Service
At the beginning of the pandemic when AACFB lost its entire volunteer workforce, Bruce made it his mission to ensure that AACFB had the manpower in place to continue to get food to County residents in need. As president of Anne Arundel Annapolis Community Emergency Response Team (AAA CERT), Bruce brought much-needed help to our warehouse, ensuring that our mission would not falter. We also recognize Bruce for other AACFB volunteer projects he initiated from creating databases and providing IT support to management consulting.
Congrats, CERT Basic Class of May 2022
Congratulations to the May 2022 CERT Basic class. Anne Arundel Annapolis CERT’s second class of 2022. The May 2022 class underwent its training and final disaster simulation exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This group was challenged with under 10 participants which added extra stress to the search and rescue teams. Despite this challenge, they did an outstanding job. During the simulation, search teams had to perform basic search and rescue, provided triage to survivors, simulate fire suppression, and deploy cribbing to free a trapped survivor. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class which starts in May? Then checkout our training page on our website for more details.
Congrats, CERT Basic Class of April 2022
Congratulations to the April 2022 CERT Basic class. Anne Arundel Annapolis CERT’s first class of 2022. The April 2022 class underwent its training and final disaster simulation exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This group was close to pre pandemic size with almost 20 participants. During the simulation, search teams had to perform basic search and rescue, provided triage to survivors, simulate fire suppression, and deploy cribbing to free a trapped survivor. The class found all victims and treated them accordingly. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class which starts in May? Then checkout our training page on our website for more details.
AAACERT Makes FEMA News
AAACERT is proud to have been recognized in the FEMA CERT/ICPS newsletter for April 2022. Our work last year at the Russett Community Cleanup Day for Earth Day was our first but not our last event with the Russett Community. We’ll continue again this year and expand to help with other events the community has planned.
A special thanks to Rick and Anne for helping last year and for signing up to help this year.
You can read the full story on FEMA’s site by clicking THIS LINK.
Congrats, TEEN CERT Basic Class of March 2022!
Congratulations to the March 2022 Teen CERT Basic training class from Glen Burnie High School, Meade High School, and Severn School. Each class participated in CERT training at their schools before coming together for the final exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. The class performed extremely well despite not knowing each other. Strong winds did not deter the class as they found all survivors and treated them according to the type of injuries they had. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class, checkout our WEBSITE for more details or email our TRAINING team.
AAACERT Visits AACo PD Aviation Unit
AAACERT members were invited to visit the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Aviation Unit. AA Co PD officers explainedthe equipment and ability of the Bell 407GXi helicopter among other items. This equipment helps police officers cover more ground and faster than ground-based officers. Visits like these are just part of the perks volunteer members of AAACERT can experience during our monthly trainings. Click HERE to learn more and sign up for our next CERT Basic class.
Anne Arundel-Annapolis CERT is an all-volunteer non-profit. As volunteers, we rely on donations to continue our efforts. Please consider a donation so we can continue supporting communities around Anne Arundel County. It’s easy to provide support through PayPal and/or by signing up for Amazon Smile.