Outstanding Work in Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness to be Recognized.
Tulsa Partners, Inc. will honor its 2008 Nania Award winners Tuesday, June 17 during its fifth annual Nania Awards Banquet. "Nania" is a Cherokee word meaning "all together." The Nania Awards were established in 2004 to recognize organizations, businesses and individuals who have displayed outstanding leadership in bringing people "all together" at the grassroots level to build disaster-resistant communities.
The last day to register for the banquet is this Thursday, June 12th.
This year's individual honoree and keynote speaker is Mark K. Shriver. He is the Vice President and Managing Director of U.S. Programs (USP) for Save the Children. Shriver leads programmatic and advocacy efforts to improve the early childhood development, literacy, physical activity and nutrition of children living in impoverished rural communities across the United States.
He also leads Save the Children's domestic emergency response programs and efforts to ensure that the unique needs of children are incorporated into disaster preparedness, response and recovery plans. In this capacity, Shriver serves as Save the Children USP's national spokesman and provides leadership to the day-to-day operations. He has served on a number of boards and commissions, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory Council and the National Commission on Children and Disasters. Shriver resides in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and three children. He is the son of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
Our corporate honorees include:
The Child Care Resource Center has been a key stakeholder in local efforts to care for the needs of children and their caregivers during a disaster.
They have worked for a number of years with local emergency management on identifying the location of child care centers as critical facilities to consider in an emergency response. They have also been active in educating child care facilities on developing emergency plans and business continuity plans, working with other entities to provide needed materials and training.
The Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) has utilized public private partnerships to facilitate effective coordination of emergency medical preparedness and response. Examples include the creation of the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) and the Medical Emergency Response Center (MERC), and the establishment of the Medical Reserve Corps in Tulsa. They have also participated in educational outreach and emergency planning for hospitals, long term care facilities, pediatric patients and individuals with special needs.
Tulsa Partners is also giving a special Nania Award to the City of Tulsa's Operation Power Up, a unique public private partnership that responded to the needs of Tulsans without power from the December 2007 Ice Storm. This pilot project developed by the city used firefighters and volunteers to assess ice storm damage to homes in our community, and provided federal funding for electricians to fix damaged weatherheads at a set price.
The Nania Awards Banquet will begin at 6:00 p.m. on June 17 at the Bernsen Community Life Center- Great Hall, 700 South Boston. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased by calling (918) 632-0044 or logging on to www.tulsapartners.org . The banquet is sponsored by Bank of Oklahoma, with additional support from State Farm Insurance and PSO.
Tulsa Partners, Inc. is a non-profit organization made up of citizen, business, and agency partners working to reduce risk and assist the community in being prepared for all hazards. Tulsa Partners, Inc. is working to create a disaster-resistant community through public/private partnerships, citizen education and demonstration projects. For more information, visit www.tulsapartners.org.