CWS Coordinating Recovery Trainings in New Jersey, New York


January 11, 2013

New York, N.Y. — As part of its continuing recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy, global humanitarian agency Church World Service announced today that it is coordinating a series of long term recovery trainings in New Jersey and New York, scheduled later this month.

Presbyterian Disaster Response and local New York and New Jersey Presbyteries are helping facilitate and host several of the events.

The planned six workshops are designed to provide those working to help communities rebuild and recover “an overview of long term recovery and shares lessons learned and best practices gathered from decades of experience in large and small disasters,” said CWS staffer Barry Shade.

“Recovery from a disaster event requires a whole-community approach,” said Shade, CWS’s associate director for domestic emergency response.

Church World Service is working with a number of agencies in conducting the training. In addition to FEMA, these include the New Jersey Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster (VOAD), Lutheran Disaster Response, World Renew, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the New Jersey Emergency Management Agency, United Methodist Committee on Relief and the United Church of Christ.

WHERE/WHEN:

NEW JERSEY:

Tuesday, January 15 – Margate Community Church, 8900 Ventnor Ave., Margate City, NJ  08402

Thursday, January 17 – Presbyterian Church of Toms River, 1070 Hooper Ave., Toms River, NJ  08753

Saturday, January 19 – Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, 716 Watchung Ave., Plainfield, NJ  07060

NEW YORK:

Tuesday, January 22 — Stony Point Center (Hudson River Presbytery, Rockland County, NY) 17 Cricketown Rd Stony Point, NY 10980

Thursday, January 24 — Long Island Volunteer Center (in Long Island Presbytery, Nassau County, NY) 175 Central Avenue South Bethpage, NY 11714

All of the sessions will begin at 9 a.m. and run until 4:30 p.m.

WHO:

Among those urged to attend are those involved in long-term recovery leadership, faith based groups, religious leaders, community leaders, social service organizations, disaster case managers and other persons concerned about recovery.

Those interested in registering for the New Jersey trainings should email lois.patterson@fema.dhs.gov  for the registration link.

Those interested in registering for the New York trainings should email  Alisa.Brumfield@fema.dhs.gov

CWS Emergency Response Specialists Joann Hale and Sandra Kennedy-Owes are helping coordinate the sessions.

Along with providing emergency relief supplies, CWS makes community level long-term recovery assistance a priority.  In recent years, the agency has used training seminar formats to maximize sharing of its expertise, and has provided grants to startup groups.

Building grassroots recovery infrastructure to help the poorest – those who are uninsured, under-insured or yet unserved by other sources — is part of CWS’s emergency response work, and a cornerstone of CWS’s global focus on advance preparedness to reduce the risks of disasters.

Topics to be at the day-long seminars include: Long-term recovery issues; community needs assessment; construction volunteers and management; disaster case management; emotional and spiritual care; FEMA individual assistance; and the national donations management system.

There is no cost for the training, lunch or materials. The training is a gift of Church World Service and the faith groups providing leadership. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supporting this training by providing travel and lodging expenses for the leaders.

Registration for the events is strongly recommended.  Although people may come without registration, it will be helpful to have a good idea of the number of persons at each site to provide lunch, handouts and other materials.  For more information contact Chris Herlinger, (212) 870-2068, cherlinger@churchworldservice.org.

Church World Service is a global relief, sustainable development and refugee assistance agency, addressing the root causes of poverty and hunger around the world. As part of its work, CWS has a domestic disaster response program.