This might be an opportunity time to air some thoughts & ideas re developing the element of IMMEDIACY into our Communications Team.

We of course have an Emergency Management & Disaster Relief wiki-page we're building out... but to do it properly we everyone's thoughts & ideas & favorite links, etc.

http://cityreaching.pbwiki.com/Emergencies%20Management

Might anyone have a passion for getting vitally connected with the Christian Emergency Network folks, for instance? I'd be happy to connect you with Mary Marr (Founder).

Other thoughts, ideas?

Btw, CEN has a FB group that one of you could Request To Join... as our liaison perhaps... yes?

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23901196597&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.new.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Fq%3Dchristian%2Bemergency%2Bnetwork%26init%3Dq

Just joined, Neil.

YSIC,
Melanie

How do we share resources? How do we establish communication needs before an emergency? Possibilities..surely there are Christians on TASK Force 1. When they are activated what are they at liberty to share as far as information?

My thoughts....hmmmmm now ponder....

Great thought. And great question to ask. One of our friends here in Indy, Tony Portell, just may know the answer. I'll be doing coffee with him this next week, and ask.

At the very least, that's one thing -- collaborative resource-sharing -- that the wiki can provide... a place to share some best-in-class info, links, videos, etc.... especially once we get good at it.

Eg... http://cityreaching.pbwiki.com/Emergencies+Management

And indeed I was able to talk with Pastor/fireman/emergency-crew-guy Tony Portell today. For now, I've at least added his bottom-line advice... Christians, go take the NIMS online training (4 x 3-hr online course) so that you'll be knowledgeable and prepped... and importantly... so that you WON'T be 'in the way'... as government agencies stereotypically think we Christians are. If you're TRAINED... they embrace your help. If not, they don't. So get trained.

http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/index.shtm

He intimated that courses #100, #200, #700 and #800 were the most important/effective, for the time spent on them.

Btw, Dian & all.... Tony's YouTube site is... http://YouTube.com/tportell -- I've subscribed... and hope to run some of his stuff from time to time. Hope maybe he'll do a clip re 'Emergency Mgmt -- Get Trained'... sometime.

YBIC,
Neil

Everyone... we recently added Adennis 'Nick' Cora to the citywide communications team. He's the Communications point-guy for the H.E.R.T. (Horizons Emergency Response Team) here on the northside of Indy. They have over 50 well-trained folks on their team.

One of the things he asked about, was if we had yet established any 'protocols' for our communications. And largely, except for connecting here in Facebook, I'm guessing that answer is NO.

I'm hoping Nick and their team can add some value to our overall city communications, perhaps especially as we consider and lock-in some 'protocols'.

Eg... we may want to test something like http://Textmarks.com as a good way to broadcast URGENT/IMPORTANT text-alerts to our whole communications group. [If any of you want to try it right now, text 'indychristian' to 41411... and let's do some testing.]

Nick? Comments? Others?

Re: TEXTMARKS.COM

Looks like it could be GREAT for doing what we're hoping to do.

At the moment, it's set to auto-subscribe you if you text 'indychristian' to the 'phone number' 41411.

[For those of you not familiar with such a 'weird' phone number... don't worry, it works... at least for receiving text-messages.]

After you subscribe, you SHOULD be able to later send an alert to everyone by texting 41411 anytime, and start your message with 'indychristian' (and a space)... then whatever you'd like to alert everyone to.

Again, preferably only URGENT/IMPORTANT messages. But let's test it here at the outset.

And we'll probably test it every Friday @ 11am... just like the Community Prayer Siren.