Sarah Jonas, left, an Environmental Health Specialist with the Whitfield County Health Department, goes through the shelter’s health inspection with Red Cross Health and Safety Director Retta Gavin, center, and Whitfield County Emergency Services Deputy Director Claude Craig at the First Baptist Church in Dalton in this file photo.IF YOU GOWhat: Whitfield Community Volunteers Active in Disasters organizational meetingWhen: 10 a.m. todayWhere: Dalton First United Methodist Church fellowship hall, 500 S. Thornton Ave.Information: Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency at 706-370-4911 or ema@whitfieldcountyga.com
After a tornado hits or an earthquake rattles a community, emergency relief organizations are quick to respond. Recovery efforts, however, can take much longer, and that’s where volunteers come into play.
To prepare better for those times, officials are organizing a group called Whitfield Community Volunteers Active in Disaster. The group will hold its first meeting today.
“Across the state we have some of these groups already established,” said Claude Craig, director of the Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency. “A recovery group that will be there long after initial responders are gone.”
Craig said even though Whitfield County escaped the devastation of the April storms, the area remains at risk.