Representatives from several disaster and public health organizations in Callaway County will be teaming up to host the county's first community-wide disaster-preparedness meeting in Millersburg.
The Millersburg Christian Church will play host to the meeting 7 p.m. Sept. 11, which aims to raise awareness and address Millersburg's preparedness in the event of a manmade or natural disaster.
The idea came when church missions committee chairperson Beth Haas attended a faith-based organization disaster workshop hosted by the Callaway Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD). The workshop was one of many that various organizations hold to encourage disaster preparedness at an individual group level.
When Haas and committee assistant chair Elaine Long met with Red Cross Disaster Coordinator Phillip Iman about using the church for disaster relief, they were told the building was too small to be used as a Red Cross shelter, but could be used for food preparation.
It was then they saw the need for planning in Millersburg on a larger scale.
"(Iman) said check with some of the others in the community. Millersburg Baptist Church felt they were not big enough to do food preparation but would be part of helping us with it. We went to firefighters, and many of them already trained for search and rescue, and we talked to the Millersburg Lions Club about the possibility of shelter. We saw there's a good chance that as a community we could put something together that we couldn't do as a church."