Early in 2009, then Grand Knight Keith George and current Grand Knight Joe Gibbons wanted to incorporate a disaster preparedness goal into the Knights of Columbus Council overall goals, in keeping with both state and national K of C goals, to aid the community in emergencies.

Enter some 15 ready-to-go brother Knights who signed up to take the Fairfax County’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training course so the council, parish and surrounding community might benefit further from having trained emergency volunteers to help first responders to do their vital jobs in the event of a disaster.

CERT is an eight-week training program that prepares residents to help themselves, their families and their neighbors in the event of a disaster in their community. Through CERT, residents can learn about disaster preparedness and receive training in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and disaster medical operations. The idea is to have a cadre of volunteers who can provide critical support by giving immediate assistance to victims before emergency first responders arrive on scene. For Fairfax county, CERT training is administered through the auspices of the county fire and rescue department. For many, the training leads to Fairfax County Community Emergency Response Team’s Full Scale Exercise. Fairfax County’s emergency response teams are world renowned.

Brother knights who participated received full back packs with emergency equipment and helmets and are on the County’s rolls for call up in case of disaster, much like county residents who work in the medical field. The Council is hoping to have another CERT team receive basic training and have the original team move on to advanced training. It is hoped that other SJN ministries may wish to have members of their groups trained, thereby expanding the blanket of protection across the SJN Catholic Community and the surrounding area.