Quarterly Meeting Minutes, October 2024

Get Connected Icon
Oct 24, 2024
by Skylar Washington

DE BEST Quarterly Meeting for FY24/25 Q3 was held on October 9th, 2024 via Zoom.

As always, we discussed our recent activities and goals moving forward. We were graced with an excellent Team Building Exercise by Celeste Peart. Thank you again for putting it together for the team! If you were unable to make the meeting and have suggestions, questions, or concerns please reach out to Celeste or Skylar.

DE BEST QUARTERLY MEETING MINUTES

October 9, 2024, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Virtual via Zoom Meeting

Attendees:

Celeste Peart, Program Manager
Skylar Washington, Admin Assistant
Anthony Policastro, DE BEST Volunteer Advisory Board Rep & Committee Chair
 Jim Deel, DE BEST Volunteer Co-Committee Chair
Elizabeth Walsh
Elizabeth Mackay

 

 TOPIC

QUESTIONS

ACTION ITEMS, RECOMMENDATIONS and NOTES
a) Welcome

Celeste Peart - called to order at 6:30 p.m.

 

b) Program Developments

Recruitment Efforts

-and-

Capacity Updates

Highlights - Reviewed summary.

"Call Down" Conducted August 20, 2024 

  TEAM COUNT AT TIME OF CALL DOWN  (322)

NO RESPONSE  (169)

RESPONSE RECEIVED : 48% Response Rate (153)  

Available to serve in 1-3 hours  (35)

Available to serve in 1-3 hours  (37) 

Available to serve in 1-3 hours  (18) 

Unavailable  (63)

WITHDRAWN/PURGED VOLUNTEERS:  (118)

NEW MEMBERS: (6)

TOTAL DE BEST VOLUNTEERS (from 330 E.O.J.): (218)


Required trainings completed by volunteers (to date)


  • Crisis Counseling "CCP" Training (various formats)  (30) Total
  • Psychological First Aid (various formats) (12) New (39) Total
  • RespondDE MRC Code of Conduct (48) Total
  • RespondDE MRC Photo Release Waiver (44) Total
  • IS-100.C: Introduction to Incident Command System (33) Total
  • IS-700.B: Intro to the National Incident Management System (32) Total

 

c) Community Resilience Initiatives:

Outreach & Deployments

Highlights - Reviewed summary.
Community Outreach:

= over 4000 community members reached


  • Kent: Delaware Futures Health Fair, August 3  (200)

  • New Castle:YMCA Community Health Fair, August 23 (250) 

  • Kent: The Masons of Delaware Community Day, August 24 (350) 

  • New Castle: The Howard vs. Hodgson 2nd Annual Pigskin Classic Football Game, August 29 (300) 

  • New Castle: The Lake Forest vs. Odessa Football Game, August  29 (300)

  • New Castle:Wilmington PD Resource Fair, September 12th (200+) 

  • New Castle: Delaware Family Emergency Preparedness Day, September 14 (800+) 

  • Kent: Veteran Stand Down, September 20  (600+).

  • Kent: Drug/Alcohol,Gun Violence Mental Health Fair, September 21 (300+) resources.

  • New Castle: Hispanic Heritage Fair, September 21 (150+) 

  • New Castle: Vet Fest 2024, September 28  (700+)


 Emergency Deployment & Ongoing Response:
  • Kent: "Deployment: Support for Dover Community Gun Violence" included PFA support on (4) Tuesdays for the month of August. (39) hours were provided by (4) staff and (3) volunteers, distributing over (20) resources.
  • New Castle: "Independent Hopeline Resource Distribution", 7/2, 7/9, 8/13 and 8/14. 
  • "Phone Support for DE BEST Volunteers' Onboarding Support", 7/2, 7/9, and 8/29

 

d) Program Development:

Volunteer Engagement Events, Meetings and Trainings 

Highlights - Reviewed summary.


Volunteer Team Meetings & Trainings:

  • DE BEST Quarterly Team Meeting, July 10

  • DE BEST Volunteer Committee Meeting, July 23

  • DE BEST Volunteer Committee Meeting, September 24 

  • DSAMH facilitated: Mental Health First Aid Training, July 17 and August 14


 		 

e) Team Building Initiative:  Celeste Peart

Highlights - Celeste did a brief recap of Psychological First Aid(PFA) and a Team Building Exercise, consisting of a Break out: Hurricane Scenario. Please see more information below:


This was a great exercise to get our team to start putting our unique skills together and finding solutions to problems as a unit. We will continue to have team building exercise throughout committee and quarterly meetings and if volunteers have any ideas we are open to all feedback. 

  
g) Upcoming Activities

Upcoming Scheduled Activities:


  • DE BEST Quarterly Meeting: 11/8 

  • Mental Health First Aid Training (through DSAMH), 10/17

  • DE BEST Annual Potluck & Naloxone Education & Distribution (by DSAMH), 10/23

  • Outreach at H.E.R. (Health, Education and Resources) Community Event, 10/19

  • DE BEST Committee Meeting, 11/26 (tentative)


  
h) Reminders

Stay active with DE BEST:

  
i) Closing / Adjourn

Celeste called for adjournment at 7:45 p.m.

Next Quarterly Meeting is tentatively scheduled for:

November 8th, 2024, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm