Girls Inc. of Carpinteria is preparing to open its doors as an emergency shelter if El Nio storms bring severe weather to the community, building on its role as a local resilience hub.
Staff members are preparing rooms to accommodate residents who may need shelter during an emergency. Executive Director Jamie Collins said the organization wants to remind the community of the resources it can provide.
Just wanting to put the resource out there, reminding the community that we are a resilience hub and we have shelter capacity up to 500, Collins said.
This time, staff members are also receiving training from the American Red Cross to help them manage shelter operations, including setting up beds, checking people in, and keeping track of residents.
Melissa Cornejo, programs operations manager at Girls Inc., said the training also addressed how to support people experiencing trauma during an emergency.
How to set up the beds, where people should go, checking people in, accounting for everybody, but they also covered the more trauma-informed aspect, Cornejo said.
The preparations come years after the Thomas Fire, which broke out in December 2017 and disrupted Girls Inc.s ability to serve local children. During the fire, the organization closed its programs, and its facility was used as a staging area for firefighters.
We were shut down. We werent able to serve any children during that time. This area was used as a staging area for the fire department, said Kenya Rodriguez, programs director at Girls Inc.
The organizations current preparations are intended to help staff respond to future emergencies while providing a place for community members to seek shelter when severe weather strikes.
With rooms being prepared and staff receiving emergency shelter training, Girls Inc. of Carpinteria is working to strengthen its role as a resource for the community during potentially dangerous weather.