Group recruits volunteers for local homeland sercurity

The Monroe County Citizens Corps signed up volunteers at the Monroe County Fair for several programs intended to prepare the county for disasters.\nThe volunteer network -- funded by grants from the Department of Homeland Security -- focused on recruiting for the Community Emergency Response Teams program, the group's chairman, Mark Brostoff said. The program will train groups in neighborhoods and workplaces to put out fires, do light search and rescue and perform basic medical operations during a large-scale disaster.\n"I've never heard of anything like this," said Kristi Barnett, who filled out a recruitment card. "I think that -- having two young children -- it is in the back of my mind that I should be prepared."\nThe MCCC has trainers ready to teach the volunteer groups, said Training Coordinator Max Ferree, a retired fire chief. \n"It's up to the public now to want to participate," Ferree said. "We try to pass out bookmarkers, and a lot of people just shake their heads and move on."\nThe group also used the booth to show off its new Web site, an important recruitment tool, Brostoff said. He said he has received several e-mails from potential volunteers since the site was posted Friday.\n"People can now go online to volunteer," Brostoff said. "And that's how we want people to do that."\nMCCC is one of 19 councils that have been registered so far in Indiana, according to the national Citizen Corps Web site. It is part of a growing national network of about 725 state, local and tribal Citizen Corps Councils.\nThe Citizen Corps coordinates other programs, such as Volunteers in Police Services, which uses volunteers to help police forces behind the scenes. The Medical Reserve Corps coordinates volunteer medical professionals for daily and emergency public health needs. \nThe Citizen Corps also has taken control of Neighborhood Watch, a program known for deterring crime by encouraging neighbors to look out for suspicious activity in their communities. Now the group is suggesting that neighbors look out for possible terrorists.\nThe state recently handed down about $8,800 in federal money to the MCCC to help them develop these programs, Brostoff said.\nBrostoff said he is pleased with the contacts Citizen Corps representatives have made at the fair so far. After the fair he said he will talk to local neighborhood associations about sending groups to become Community Emergency Response Teams.\nFor more information on the Monroe County Citizen Corps visit www.bloomington.in.us/~mccc/ or www.citizencorps.gov/.