City Times Staff

In partnership with Wood County Emergency Management, United Way of Inner Wisconsin’s Volunteer Center will be conducting a Disaster Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) Training on Mar. 8 and 9, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. both nights.

The event will be held at the Wisconsin Rapids VFW, 2711 Reddin Rd., Wisconsin Rapids. Dinner will be sponsored by Tropical Smoothie Café and Domino’s.

In the event of a disaster, any spontaneous volunteers who arrive at a disaster scene will be directed to the VRC, where they will fill out an application, be interviewed and screened, matched with a disaster volunteer opportunity, trained and fitted with a wristband before being sent back out to the disaster scene. The VRC is staffed by another group of volunteers. We are currently recruiting volunteers to join our VRC team.

Day one of our VRC training will consist of lecture, where we will be discussing what happens during a disaster, what we do at the VRC and why it is important. Day two will be a hands-on exercise. At the conclusion of the training, each participant will be asked to join the VRC team. Each VRC volunteer fills out an application, is screened, and asked to attend future trainings. VRC volunteers are also asked to be available in the event of a disaster.

To register for the training, please visit www.uwiw.org. For more information, please contact Angie Loucks, Volunteer Center Director at 715-421-0390.