be prepared AWARDS

By Quinn Lewandowski
State Citizen Corps Program Coordinator
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency

Lt. Governor Mike Foley’s Be Prepared Awards program is in its 12th year of honoring Nebraskans who volunteer their time and energy to support preparedness in Nebraska communities. The awards are sponsored by the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency in partnership with the Nebraska Citizen Corps Program and the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.

Each September we mark National Preparedness Month in Nebraska. And each year we see how severe weather, floods, hurricanes, wild fires and other hazards impact communities around the country. This only serves to highlight the importance of being prepared for disasters and other hazards right here in our state.

We have a number of individuals and organizations in Nebraska whose outstanding commitment to preparedness helps ensure their local communities are more resilient and better able to handle any hazard or emergency. I’m pleased to be here tonight to celebrate the emergency preparedness efforts of two individuals by recognizing them as recipients of Lt. Governor Mike Foley’s Be Prepared Awards.

While trained professionals such as our police, paramedics and firefighters are absolutely essential in a crisis - the Be Prepared awards recognize the efforts of the professionals and volunteers across Nebraska who are ready to assist at a moment’s notice due to their participation and leadership in emergency preparedness activities.

Nebraska continues to be a leader in emergency preparedness, and this is an area where Nebraskans can be particularly proud. Today we honor the accomplishments of some outstanding Nebraskans who have volunteered their time to strengthen emergency preparedness in our state.

I will now present two of Lt. Governor Mike Foley’s Be Prepared Awards for Excellence in Individual Preparedness to Mike Blue of Scottsbluff and Larry Martin of Gering. These specific awards honor an individual demonstrating a commitment and dedication to the safety of the public by volunteering, training, and promoting preparedness.

Mike Blue of Scottsbluff - Mike Blue has been an active and reliable member of the Scotts Bluff County CERT/SAR team since 2005. Mike’s involvement in the team had him take an interest in being trained in Man Tracking, which takes many hours of training and practice to become a qualified tracker. Mike has done that, he currently has over 250 hours of tracking and training time and is currently at the nationally recognized certified apprentice level. Mike’s leadership and experience are an extremely valuable asset to the Scotts Bluff County CERT/SAR team especially when working a missing person incident. Mike has been used on several missing person cases and by law enforcement and is one of very few certified man trackers here in the State of Nebraska. It is an honor to present this award to Mike Blue, it is very much deserved.
 
Larry Martin of Gering - Larry Martin has been an active and reliable member of the Scotts Bluff County CERT/SAR team since 2007. Larry is a radio tech for Action Communications and he maintains all of Scotts Bluff County CERT/SAR radios and keeps them in working order, and with 25 radios he stays busy. He also takes care of the storage building that the CERT trailer and ATV are kept and keeps the building organized and ready to respond in an emergency. Larry’s involvement in the team also had him take an interest in being trained in Man Tracking, which takes many hours of training and practice to become a qualified tracker. Larry has done that, he currently has over 180 hours of tracking and training time and is currently at the nationally recognized certified basic tracker level and about to qualify for the apprentice tracker level. Larry’s leadership and experience are an extremely valuable asset to the Scotts Bluff County CERT/SAR team especially when working a missing person incident. Larry has been used on several missing person cases and by law enforcement and is one of very few certified man trackers here in the State of Nebraska. It is an honor to present this award to Larry Martin, it is very much deserved.