Kudos to Camden

What a great thing Camden has done for its community and the entire county by teaming up with the American Red Cross to provide an emergency shelter. The shelter, to be the community room at the Camden Community Building, will be the first Red Cross emergency shelter in Carroll County.

Last winter the power was off for several hours and the Camden Town Office received many calls from residents asking about emergency shelter, but the town had none. Town officials vowed not to let that happen this winter.

After several calls and much checking, they learned that if the town is to have a shelter, it is the town's responsibility to provide one.

Now, depending on the scope and scale of the disaster and the impact and available resources, the Red Cross can operate an emergency shelter at Camden for the benefit of the community. Another option is providing the necessary training for local leaders to staff and operate the shelter.

If the crisis warrants, the Red Cross can also provide food, cots, blankets and sanitation supplies. All of this is at no cost to Camden.

At the town's expense, it is having installed in the Community Building a natural gas powered generator to provide electrical power to the facility. This will be done before winter.

Because the town has teamed up with the Red Cross, it will be much easier too, to offer the facility to other communities in the county that may experience an emergency or disaster.

Camden's timely and progressive approach to solving a serious inadequacy in the town is commendable.