Our CERTs had the distinct honor of being invited to participate in the 6th Annual Flag Retirement Ceremony on Sunday, June 7th at T. R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Missouri.
About 1,500 worn, tattered or torn American flags were retired during the ceremony. As many of the flags came from area businesses and homes, there were several flags that had been flown outside the U.S. with almost 100 flags from U.S. embassies or consulates that were retired.
The public was invited to attend and before the official ceremony began, there were a couple of weather-related delays that forced everyone to seek shelter inside the ballpark. There were displays from the various branches of the military and music from the St. Charles County Choral Arts Society.
The ceremony location was new this year. T. R. Hughes Ballpark offered ample parking facilities for the event which grows larger each year. Even though the event is hosted by O'Fallon Boy Scout Troop 858, there is participation from a great many scout troops from several other communities. This event is considered to be one of the largest single Boy Scout flag retirement ceremonies in the country to be held in one day.
In a long but beautifully moving ceremony that began “I am your Flag. I was born on June 14, 1777. I am more than cloth shaped into a design. I am the refuge of the world's oppressed people. I am the silent sentinel of Freedom. I am the emblem of the greatest sovereign nation on earth...”, hundreds of uniformed scouts and guests honored and showed respect to our flag in this formal military style celebration.
Showing posts with label O'Fallon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label O'Fallon. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Volunteers respond to soggy simulation
By Elizabeth Perry
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 5:15 AM CDT
Saturday morning was rainy and cold, but volunteers still gathered in O'Fallon Sports Park to play victims in a simulated plane crash.
They were part of a Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, exercise. CERT volunteers have checked on people whose utilities went out during an ice storm and have sandbagged during floods.
During this exercise, CERT volunteers were to locate and safely move victims and give basic first aid. CERT volunteers also were learning to contain a disaster scene, so people didn't wander in and disrupt lifesaving care.
Volunteer Karen Conner-Hatcher applied gory makeup to the "victims." She is not a professional makeup artist, but it is a high compliment to say her work looked ghastly.
Conner-Hatcher said the more realistic the makeup, the easier it is for CERT members to get into the event.
T.J. Miles, 11, of O'Fallon had a puckered slash on his face.
"I like wearing the makeup. It's fun," Miles said. "Some of the people here are really messed up.
"Miles mentioned a girl with sugar glass sticking out of her forehead. The girl, Hannah Puckett, 11, is a Central Elementary student whose mom is a CERT volunteer.
Puckett had posed as a victim for CERT trainings five times. On Saturday, her role was a fan of a celebrity also on the fake flight, played by 17-year-old Samantha Simms.
Puckett clutched a Photoshopped picture of Simms standing with "Twilight" film star Robert Pattinson. In the scenario, Puckett tried to get an autograph from Simms just as the plane was crashing because the pilot was drunk.
Miriam Hannibal, 17, and Jaime Nardi, 16, played siblings separated from their father. Nardi spoke little so she wouldn't disturb the burn makeup on her face.
Hannibal said they had taken their roles so seriously during previous CERT scenarios that people thought they'd actually been injured.
Both want to become actresses, and they got into character imagining what it would've been like on the plane before it crashed.
"It's just a matter of opening your eyes as a victim," Hannibal said.
The victims piled into a junked plane and sat on the ground covered in blue tarps. Their corn syrup blood pooled in the rain as the actors cried for loved ones. About 11 a.m., organizers called the victims back, few CERT volunteers were in sight, and the victims were in real peril of hypothermia.
"We would have been dead already. The plane crashed at 6:50," Puckett said.
O'Fallon police Detective Sgt. Robert Kendall said the weather brought the training to an early close, between 1 and 2 p.m.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 5:15 AM CDT
Saturday morning was rainy and cold, but volunteers still gathered in O'Fallon Sports Park to play victims in a simulated plane crash.They were part of a Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, exercise. CERT volunteers have checked on people whose utilities went out during an ice storm and have sandbagged during floods.
During this exercise, CERT volunteers were to locate and safely move victims and give basic first aid. CERT volunteers also were learning to contain a disaster scene, so people didn't wander in and disrupt lifesaving care.
Volunteer Karen Conner-Hatcher applied gory makeup to the "victims." She is not a professional makeup artist, but it is a high compliment to say her work looked ghastly.
Conner-Hatcher said the more realistic the makeup, the easier it is for CERT members to get into the event.
T.J. Miles, 11, of O'Fallon had a puckered slash on his face.
"I like wearing the makeup. It's fun," Miles said. "Some of the people here are really messed up.
"Miles mentioned a girl with sugar glass sticking out of her forehead. The girl, Hannah Puckett, 11, is a Central Elementary student whose mom is a CERT volunteer.
Puckett had posed as a victim for CERT trainings five times. On Saturday, her role was a fan of a celebrity also on the fake flight, played by 17-year-old Samantha Simms.
Puckett clutched a Photoshopped picture of Simms standing with "Twilight" film star Robert Pattinson. In the scenario, Puckett tried to get an autograph from Simms just as the plane was crashing because the pilot was drunk.
Miriam Hannibal, 17, and Jaime Nardi, 16, played siblings separated from their father. Nardi spoke little so she wouldn't disturb the burn makeup on her face.
Hannibal said they had taken their roles so seriously during previous CERT scenarios that people thought they'd actually been injured.
Both want to become actresses, and they got into character imagining what it would've been like on the plane before it crashed.
"It's just a matter of opening your eyes as a victim," Hannibal said.
The victims piled into a junked plane and sat on the ground covered in blue tarps. Their corn syrup blood pooled in the rain as the actors cried for loved ones. About 11 a.m., organizers called the victims back, few CERT volunteers were in sight, and the victims were in real peril of hypothermia.
"We would have been dead already. The plane crashed at 6:50," Puckett said.
O'Fallon police Detective Sgt. Robert Kendall said the weather brought the training to an early close, between 1 and 2 p.m.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
O'Fallon looking for citizen responders
By Elizabeth Perry
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:13 AM CST
For the first time, the city of O'Fallon is developing its own Citizen Emergency Response Team.
The team is composed of resident volunteers willing to help the police during crises.
O'Fallon Police Officer Andy Stowers said the class should appeal to anyone who thinks people "need to be able to take care of ourselves."
Seven people have signed up for CERT classes. Stowers said he hopes for 25 participants.
Many other communities in the county have CERT programs, and Stowers said officials who run those programs were resources for him.
"Everybody has helped me," Stowers said. "I couldn't do it without community support."
Shalom Shoaf, the CERT coordinator for the St. Charles Fire Department, was one of those people in the community who provided support.
Shoaf said she and Stowers talked about necessary paperwork and how to gain support for the program.
Shoaf said CERT has been around since the late 1970s, forming after an earthquake in Mexico killed 800 rescuers who were trying to clear a building. The idea is to train volunteers to increase their chances of survival and make them more effective in emergencies, Shoaf said.
Shoaf said her team is utilized more than any other in the county.
"We deploy my CERT team in the city quite a bit," Shoaf said.
Volunteer team members went door to door in St. Charles during an ice storm a couple years ago to see if residents needed help. Shoaf said her team of volunteers has safely evacuated nursing homes.
"We have to be out there ready to help our neighbors," said Phillip Yocum, an evidence officer with the Wentzville Police Department and a CERT organizer.
Stowers said Yocum also advised him.
Yocum said he was impressed by the spirit of volunteerism among his team. There is a waiting list for volunteers who want to take part in Wentzville's CERT program, he said.
Wentzville will also be conducting CERT classes for Wentzville residents Jan. 26 with CERT classes for teenagers starting Feb. 19.
Jim Sease, a volunteer who started Dardenne Prairie's CERT team, said he was glad to help with the formation of O'Fallon's team.
"I am personally excited to see O'Fallon get a program," Sease said.
Sease said the two cities are like a zipper, with O'Fallon families and Dardenne Prairie families interwoven.
Volunteer programs like CERT are important because the federal government is not always available to help right away in emergencies, Sease said.
Sease said CERT is important for another reason.
"There are times when the first responders become the victims themselves," Sease said.
First Community Credit Union donated $580 and Peoples Bank donated $500 to the program in O'Fallon, which does not have government funding yet, Stowers said.
The class has a $25.00 per-person fee to defray the cost of the program, Stowers said.
Stowers said the program is good for anybody interested in disaster services or emergency management.
Residents will learn how to be prepared for a disaster by packing kits containing, food, water and extra medication to keep them going for at least two days.
They'll learn fire safety, first aid, how to safely lift heavy objects and how to help others coping with disaster.
Search and rescue will also be covered in the three-day class.
Participants who take the class will get a backpack full of survival gear and supplies.
If you go:
WHAT: O'Fallon's Citizen Emergency Response Team Course
WHERE: 100 N. Main Street, O'Fallon
WHEN: Feb. 20 - 22
CONTACT: Officer Andy Stowers, 636-379-5686
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.ofallon.mo.us/PO/CERT
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:13 AM CST
For the first time, the city of O'Fallon is developing its own Citizen Emergency Response Team.
The team is composed of resident volunteers willing to help the police during crises.
O'Fallon Police Officer Andy Stowers said the class should appeal to anyone who thinks people "need to be able to take care of ourselves."
Seven people have signed up for CERT classes. Stowers said he hopes for 25 participants.
Many other communities in the county have CERT programs, and Stowers said officials who run those programs were resources for him.
"Everybody has helped me," Stowers said. "I couldn't do it without community support."
Shalom Shoaf, the CERT coordinator for the St. Charles Fire Department, was one of those people in the community who provided support.
Shoaf said she and Stowers talked about necessary paperwork and how to gain support for the program.
Shoaf said CERT has been around since the late 1970s, forming after an earthquake in Mexico killed 800 rescuers who were trying to clear a building. The idea is to train volunteers to increase their chances of survival and make them more effective in emergencies, Shoaf said.
Shoaf said her team is utilized more than any other in the county.
"We deploy my CERT team in the city quite a bit," Shoaf said.
Volunteer team members went door to door in St. Charles during an ice storm a couple years ago to see if residents needed help. Shoaf said her team of volunteers has safely evacuated nursing homes.
"We have to be out there ready to help our neighbors," said Phillip Yocum, an evidence officer with the Wentzville Police Department and a CERT organizer.
Stowers said Yocum also advised him.
Yocum said he was impressed by the spirit of volunteerism among his team. There is a waiting list for volunteers who want to take part in Wentzville's CERT program, he said.
Wentzville will also be conducting CERT classes for Wentzville residents Jan. 26 with CERT classes for teenagers starting Feb. 19.
Jim Sease, a volunteer who started Dardenne Prairie's CERT team, said he was glad to help with the formation of O'Fallon's team.
"I am personally excited to see O'Fallon get a program," Sease said.
Sease said the two cities are like a zipper, with O'Fallon families and Dardenne Prairie families interwoven.
Volunteer programs like CERT are important because the federal government is not always available to help right away in emergencies, Sease said.
Sease said CERT is important for another reason.
"There are times when the first responders become the victims themselves," Sease said.
First Community Credit Union donated $580 and Peoples Bank donated $500 to the program in O'Fallon, which does not have government funding yet, Stowers said.
The class has a $25.00 per-person fee to defray the cost of the program, Stowers said.
Stowers said the program is good for anybody interested in disaster services or emergency management.
Residents will learn how to be prepared for a disaster by packing kits containing, food, water and extra medication to keep them going for at least two days.
They'll learn fire safety, first aid, how to safely lift heavy objects and how to help others coping with disaster.
Search and rescue will also be covered in the three-day class.
Participants who take the class will get a backpack full of survival gear and supplies.
If you go:
WHAT: O'Fallon's Citizen Emergency Response Team Course
WHERE: 100 N. Main Street, O'Fallon
WHEN: Feb. 20 - 22
CONTACT: Officer Andy Stowers, 636-379-5686
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.ofallon.mo.us/PO/CERT
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