Ferndale Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) member
As a licensed amateur radio operator (KI7KUN), I work with the ACS to provide communications support to the City of Ferndale. The ACS participates in local and regional emergency drills in cooperation with the Ferndale Police Department, Ferndale School District, and the Whatcom County Sherriff's Office Division of Emergency Management.
Whatcom Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) member
Since completing my CERT training in 2016, I have continued to work with Ferndale CERT members to begin developing local teams. I have also worked with the County CERT coordinators to bring more training sessions to Ferndale, including a Teen CERT class in the winter of 2017 and the Spring 2019 class coming to Ferndale at the end of April.
Ferndale Youth Emergency Services (YES) Club Coordinator
The YES Club was established as an extracurricular club for high school students in the Ferndale School District to learn about emergency preparedness. They learned to use drones and basic radio communication skills. A number of club members completed CERT training in the first Whatcom County Teen CERT class in the winter of 2017.
Ferndale Emergency Resource Network (FERN) founding member
I worked with a group of community members, including City Councilmember Cathy Watson, to establish the Ferndale Emergency Resource Network (FERN) in 2016. FERN is a consortium of emergency response volunteers who work to ensure Ferndale is prepared for an emergency or natural disaster. Member volunteer groups include the Ferndale ACS, Ferndale CERT, Ferndale School District, Whatcom Volunteer Mobilization Center, Northwest Washington American Red Cross, and the Whatcom Unified Emergency Coordination Center.
Ferndale School Bond Task Force member
In November 2017, I joined the Ferndale School Bond Task Force to work with other community volunteers to assess options and provide recommendations to the Ferndale School Board for addressing the need for an updated Ferndale High School. I was motivated to volunteer for the task force because I felt strongly that the School District was asking the community for a substantial investment and therefore needed to provide the community with the equivalent of a comprehensive business plan. I was proud to work with a large number of fellow community members to develop a bond proposal based on extensive research and discussion. I assisted with the review of the task force's final bond proposal report and was nominated by the task force to co-present the final proposal to the school board. The proposal was unanimously adopted by the school board. Support Ferndale Schools Committee member
Following the approval of the School Bond Task Force's bond proposal by the School Board, I worked with a dedicated team of community members to present the proposed bond to the voters of the Ferndale School District. We developed online outreach tools, published mailers, hosted events, and knocked on doors to inform voters about how the bond was developed and exactly what was included. In February 2019, our community approved the bond to build our new Ferndale High School. This group truly demonstrated how we can achieve great outcomes for our community when we work together.
