Tuesday, June 28, 2022
State of CT Announces Funding For The New Hamden Fire Department, Station #2  

It's Great Day for the Hamden Fire Department along with our residents of the southern part of Hamden. Hamden CERT has called this station our home for our CERT vehicle, supplies & equipment for the last 5 years! We thank Chief Merwede, A/C Naples, the staff & especially the line personnel who have welcomed us & shared their home away for home with open arms! We truly appreciate all the members of HFD for their outstanding service to our community! Thank you for sharing your station with us!

Monday, May 30th 2022
Hamden Memorial Day Parade  

Thank you to our dedicated Hamden CERT Volunteers, who came out on their day off to support our town parade and pay tribute to our U.S. Military Personnel, who died while serving in the United States armed forces.

After getting the marchers and units in position at the high school for the start of the parade, our members headed over to the middle school to help with the conclusion of the parade. Then, most importantly, we took the time to attend our towns Memorial Service to our military members who gave the ultimate sacrifice, to secure our safety and freedom. God Bless America, our veterans and their families for their sacrifice.

"Never Forget!
 

Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Hamden CERT Members prepare for a Busy 2022 Season of Community Events!  
 

We have graduated over 30 dedicated individuals into our Hamden CERT Program since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, in March of 2020. With the start of the upcoming spring & summer season, we plan to resume many of our community events! Thank you to our 27 members who attended our monthly meeting & training on Tuesday evening as we prepare for a very busy season. To be totally prepared, we reviewed the subjects of Traffic & Crowd Management along with Golf Cart Safety and other well-being concerns. “Thank you, Hamden CERT Members, for your commitment to our team and your cooperation relating to the many community events, that are held throughout the year!”

March 31, 2022
Congratulations to our New Members from Hamden CERT Class #20! 

v

Congratulation to our Class #20 Students who graduated this evening after completing their 7 weeks of classroom and practical training. We thank them for their commitment and dedication and look forward to them joining us, at our future meetings, trainings and activations.

Welcome to our Team!

February 14, 2022 
Hamden CERT Responds to a 3 Alarm, Multiple Family Dwelling Structure Fire that displaces over 60 Residents

"See our 2021 Annual Report on our News Page!"
 

Our Hamden CERT Members were honored to support the “Hamden Middle School, End of Year Celebration” over the last 2 days. Congratulations to the Middle School Staff for an outstanding program that paid tribute to the students over 2 days during 4 separate sessions.

​

The Hamden Middle School Staff produced a great program, honoring the students who will be moving on to the high school, next year. We congratulate the students and wish them and the staff a fun filled, safe summer!

To Our Hamden CERT Members: 

​

We understand that we are a Volunteer Service and enjoy serving our community, but a "Special Thank You" goes out to our 12 Members who put in a very long day today at the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic. Everyone of the 243 people who were vaccinated today were greeted, screened, registered and guided by our team members during their visit today! Your friendly, professional and caring service did not go unnoticed!

​

"Thank you so much for your efforts today;

you make us the Great Team that we are!"

"With the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency, our primary mission will now be to support the Food Distribution Events and help with deliveries of food items to residents who are not able to leave their homes!"  
 

Hamden CERT prepared, Ready & Equipped to assist Emergency Management with the COVID-19 National Emergency 
July 2020

As summer has now arrived and we hope for less social distancing and restrictions, we would just like to share with you what Hamden CERT has been accomplishing over the last 3 months, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Since the FEMA sponsored, Community Emergency Response Team Program (CERT) is all about helping our community, as our purpose, we have been very busy.

​

Just to review, the CERT Program is a 3-Fold Program with specific goals. First, members make sure to protect and secure themselves and their family during any emergency. Second, when able to, members reach out to their neighbors to support any needs.  Third, when safe and available, members reach out and connect with other team members to supply any assets or support to their community as part of the trained and certified team. With the lack of community events that we are accustom to over the past years like Fireworks, Concerts, Food Truck Festivals and other major events, many of our members were concerned about what other activities we could support. In reviewing the first half of year (2019) compared to what we have done over the last 23 weeks, it was very surprising to see what has transpired!

​

Last year Hamden CERT Members contributed over 600 service hours from January to August, supporting community events. This year starting with the pandemic impact starting around the middle of March, our volunteers have provided much needed support to many of the vital services required by our community members. I would like to share with you what the dedicated volunteers of Hamden CERT have accomplished over the last 15 weeks.

​

Food Distribution – 10 total events, packaging & distribution – 720 Hours, serving over 2,400 meals to needy families. (Averaging 200 to 300 cars per event)

​

Points of Distribution for PPE – 11 POD’s totaling – 137 Hours, distributing hundreds of face masks and digital thermometers to area small business owners.

​

Food Deliveries, Assisting Hamden Elderly Services – 11 Deliveries – 98 Hours – making weekly deliveries every Tuesday to homebound elderly residents throughout Hamden.

The mission statement of Hamden CERT is all about people helping people and as you can see, we take pride for the fact that we work alongside our First Responders and are also an exclusive part of Hamden Emergency Management.

(See Our Mission Statement below.)

​

​

Mission Statement – Hamden, Ct. CERT

The mission of the Hamden Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is to assist our families, neighbors and community, along with our local Police & Fire Departments when needed. Our team is FEMA Certified, trained and available to provide logistical support for any large-scale emergency or planned community event that would deplete the on-duty first responder personnel.

Hamden CERT is also the volunteer branch of Hamden OEM (Office of Emergency Management). Members are always available to assist all operations of Hamden’s EOC (Emergency Operations Center) and trained to manage any Mass Care Sheltering Operations, Points of Distribution for food, water or medications or any other logistical needs!

​

Continued:

​

Hamden CERT Members were also able to support the Grace & St. Peters Episcopal Church: “Dinner for a Dollar” in collecting $570 from our CERT Members to support and serve 2 Dinners, serving close to 200 community members! During this time, we were also able to assist our Hamden Fire Department Personnel, with logistical support and rehabilitation services during the 3 weeks of Live Burn Training that was held during the month of May, totaling 150 hours. As we head into the month of July, we are now preparing and planning for the “Drive-by Hamden High School Graduation” where we will be assisting with the logistics of directing and parking  over 400 vehicles that will drive by the portable stage at Hamden Town Center Park and allow the graduates to receive their diploma’s.

“I’m sure that I speak for all of our members when I say: thank you to Mayor Leng, Chief Merwede, Fire Department Staff and Personnel for allowing our members to participate and be part of the team that provides so many vital services to our community on a daily basis.” It is always an honor to serve alongside of our First Responders, especially during this national emergency and trying times over the last few months.

​

“Please remember to be safe and do your part, for all of us during this difficult time. We are all in this together!”   

Respectfully submitted,

R.J. Freeman Jr.

Hamden CERT

Thank you to Porto's Tire Service of Hamden, CT. for their generous donation of 4 Chrome Wheel Covers for our Hamden CERT Emergency Response Vehicle! A Special "Thank You" goes out to Hamden CERT Member Marc Goldberg for making this happen! We truly appreciate your recognition of our service to the Hamden community and are proud to have you as a member of our team! 

"Thank you to Our Friends from the Hamden Rotary Club! 
"We thank you again, for our 2022 Grant Award!" 
"Service above Self!"

We would like to take the time to send a special thanks to the members of the

Dunbar Hill Fire Company #8 for their hospitality and opening their meeting hall to our Hamden CERT Members for our monthly meetings and trainings. Their generous proposal allows us to hold our basic training classes there also.

"Their generosity allows us to have a place to hold all of our activities and also have a place to call home!"

The funds raised by the rental of their hall are used for the upkeep & improvements of their station and equipment. If you know of anyone who is interested in the rental of the hall, please contact them through the information provided below. "We sincerely thank the membership of Dunbar Hill Station #8 Volunteers for reaching out to us and proving again the affiliation and teamwork of Volunteer Emergency Services helping our community to be a better and safer place for all of us!"