Educating the community about the importance of making sure people and pets are prepared for a disaster, CVDART hosted a table at the 2022 Do Good Festival in Montpelier Vermont. Using the donated State Farm Go Bags, 3 teams of 2 CVDART volunteers distributed these bags and talked with attendees about why preparation was so important throughout the day.
On August 10, 2022 the CVDART team tested the first version of the Disaster Pet Shelter Module. We set up teams of 2 people to role play with one taking on the Volunteer role while the other played the part of a pet owner. Every team was given a scenario with different variables to test the new tool.
In the fall of 2021, VDART applied for a grant from State Farm to be used to pay for programming the Disaster Pet Shelter Module. When the awarded grant was received by VDART in February, 2022, it was a delight to all that $10,000 would be available to begin the programming of the Disaster Pet Shelter module.
Deb presented an overview of in wireframes of the new Emergency Pet Shelter Module at the semi-annual conference for the National Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs. The three day event was a great opportunity to meet people from across the country dedicated to helping animals during a disaster.
After working for 3 years with the CVDART members and receiving a grant from State Farm, it was time to start DART Command Central.
The best way to be able to provide the software to volunteers for free was to apply for grants, accept donations, corporate sponsorships, and build an organization that will help educate communities to prepare for disasters and run emergency pet shelters during a disaster and be a nonprofit organization.