Press Release

Date:   September 24, 2004

Mark Brostoff 855-2501 or Georgia Schaich 876-3383

CITIZEN CORPS PARTNERS WITH CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT

         October is Fire Prevention Month and the Monroe County Citizen Corps Council has partnered with the City of Bloomington Fire Department in support of the month long activities to raise awareness of fire prevention and disaster planning.

         In keeping with the national and state guidelines to increase civic awareness in safety training for families and communities, Mark Brostoff, Chair, Monroe County Citizen Corps Council, announced today that "...this partnership is exactly the type of civic involvement and call to volunteerism that the federal government was hoping for when they funded the National Citizen Corps program.  Through the joint efforts of local Citizen Corps volunteers and firefighters, thousands of families in our city will receive vital fire prevention and family disaster planning material to make their homes safer." 

         In addition, Brostoff continued, "...the Monroe County Citizen Corps Council allocated more than $1,600 towards the purchase of literature bags, family disaster planning material and 480 smoke detector batteries for distribution by fire department personnel.  More specifically, the smoke detector batteries will be distributed by volunteers of the Citizen Corps Council and firefighters to low-income households.”  The Citizen Corps received a $6,000 grant from the Federal and State Emergency Management Agencies to provide education and support training to residents of Monroe County.

         The Monroe County Citizen Corps Council partners with community resources in developing programs in response to disasters, such as the tornados and floods of recent years.  Georgia Schaich of RSVP of Monroe County is part of Citizen Corps because “…we are committed to finding creative ways we can help prepare our community for all sorts of disaster related challenges big and small.”  Schaich continued, “…this partnership is an excellent example of volunteers working in our community to support the efforts of our professional first responders, such as the local firefighters, to ensure important material is distributed throughout our community.”

         In addition to the Fire Prevention Month partnership, the Monroe County Citizen Corps Council recently participated in the College Mall Safety Fair and is preparing to host the first CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training class in Monroe County.

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