Help CERT | Black Mountain Community Emergency Response Team

We Need Your Help

Donations to the Black Mountain CERT Program are charitable gifts, via the Black Mountain Volunteer Firefighters Association, a 501(c)(3) organization.

Click on the link to the right, enter an amount (even $10 really matters) and type in "CERT" in the field that says "Write a note (Optional)".

Donate

More Than Money

We are one of the first CERT programs in Western North Carolina ever, and as such we need pretty much everything any organization would when starting from scratch. Below is a list of needs, which can be provided by you or funded by you.

Please reach out to us at CERT@tobm.org if you have an idea not shown here, or you would like clarification on our specific need.

Stuff

High-quality cotton tee-shirts (must be green, quantity at least 30)
High-quality ball caps (quantity at least 30)
Safety Vests (must be green, DOT-reflective Class 3, quantity at least 30)
LED headlamps (quantity at least 30)
Safety Helmets (must be green, quantity 20 with 10 more tree arborist type)
EMS supplies (varies)
Stop/Slow handsigns (quantity 20)
Illuminated Wands (quantity 20)
High-viz taffic direction gloves

Equipment

Propane-powered generator (modest capacity 1,000W, quantity 2)
Starlink terminal (any type other than first generation, quantity 3)
UHF mobile radios, business or public safety quality (quantity 3)
UHF base station antennas (quantity 3)
UHF duplexer (quantity 1)
Waterproof, locking tubs for storage (small, medium, and large, quantities vary)

Services & Hosting

Website design and maintenance
Website hosting
Domain name hosting
Bookkeeping (10-25 transactions per month, non-profit experience required)

Food

Box lunches for training days (quantity varies 10-25, dates vary)
Emergency Meals (quantity TBD)

Thank You

The launch of the Black Mountain CERT Program was made possible by a grant provided by The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. They stepped up first, and helped us get this off the ground.

Donors and Supporters

We've received significant donations of new-in-box parts for our radio repeater project on Allen Mountain from Triad Components Group out in California, which heard about our needs and invited us to pick out whatever we needed for a new, hardened power supply system that will keep running in Helene-like weather, so that first responders and CERT personnel can communicate by radio.

Black Mountain Volunteer Firefighters Association has provided funds for vests for all current members, and also provide this website as a host for our communications with the public.

Dianne Frisbee, an Art Director and Designer, created our shield as her contribution to improving the resilience in our community.

Footprint Project has donated solar equipment so that we can continue our transition to a non-carbon fuel based radio system (avoiding gas/diesel generators). Fantastic partners!

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