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In more recent months the group’s conversations have often taken a more serious turn and they’ve found themselves transitioning into action mode; much of that transition began with concerns about weather-related events and community members with various life supporting needs who are most impacted by severe weather.

“Our concerns began with discussions around the event that occurred in and around the late-December rolling blackouts that affected the electrical power grid,” Garrison said. “The blackouts gave us reason to question our community’s readiness in providing safety to its more vulnerable members.”

On Feb. 16, the group met with representatives of the Guilford County Emergency Services team to discuss their concerns.

“We learned a great deal,” Garrison said. Now, they want to share that information with the community and to seek volunteers willing to train in a state-sponsored program called CERT, which stands for Community Emergency Response Team. The state will provide training and certification, provided that each team has 15 to 20 participants.

“This is a start to draw in people who might be interested in giving back to the community and have a role in efforts to get through things such as weatherrelated emergencies,” Garrison said.

“The blackouts really became a big topic for almost everyone in the group, and everybody had something to say about them. We’ve had some people step up, they’ve written letters to the town council, and we invited the mayor and town manager to our gathering in February,” he added. “There’s a lot of passion about this. I don’t live in Summerfield, so it makes me feel involved in the community … I have a passion for helping people and that’s this group.”

want to be a CERT member?

For more info about CERT, visit www.readync.gov › cert-community-emergency-response-team. Anyone interested in becoming a trained and certified member of the Summerfield CERT team is invited to a meeting on Thursday, April 6, 9 a.m. at Summerfield Community Center, 5404 Centerfield Road. For more info, or for those interested but who can’t attend on April 6, email patrick3292@spectrum.net.