On 06/27/23, DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy and Human Services Committee Chair Greg Schwarze presented a proclamation of thanks to the Milton Township Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). CERT members assist the DuPage County Continuum of Care each year with its annual Point in Time Count of unsheltered persons in DuPage County.
At its core, the purpose of the Milton Township CERT is to prepare local citizens through basic training, education, and volunteer service to make communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to respond to public health issues, emergency, and area disasters. In DuPage County, CERT also provides training for team members on light search and rescue planning, techniques, and rescuer safety which makes CERT a welcome partner in the DuPage Continuum of Care annual efforts to identify and survey persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness within our community.
During the past 12 years, CERT has increased both their role and responsibility in assisting with the annual CoC Point in Time Count of unhoused individuals in DuPage. The collective skills and the unique training of their volunteers is an invaluable contribution to our work towards preventing and ending homelessness. The DuPage County Continuum of Care is grateful for their ongoing support and leadership.
Milton Township CERT provides teams of volunteers annually each winter during the overnight hours from 10 pm until 3 am, typically on the coldest night of the year during the last Wednesday in January, to assist in identifying and surveying individuals who are living unsheltered in DuPage County. CERT often covers areas not considered safe for untrained volunteers, including the DuPage County Forest Preserves, the Illinois Prairie Path, and the Great Western Trail.
