The town of Jamestown and the American Red Cross are asking Jamestown residents to sign up to establish and staff public shelters in town.

The shelters and volunteers are needed to provide disaster relief and aid to residents during such natural or man-made disasters as floods, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, terrorist activity or war, according to Debra Tanner, executive director of Seniors Helping Others.

SHO, through its program, the South County Volunteer Corps, is working with the town to recruit and train local citizens to provide shelter service through the Red Cross. All adults, including people with disabilities, are invited to participate in the program. Children 12 and older are also invited to join with older family members.

All shelter volunteers will be asked to fulfill the following course requirements:

• Introduction to Disaster Services ICS (incident command systems)

• Community First Aid and Safety: Adult/Infant/Children CPR with AED

• Mass Care: An Overview • Shelter Operations

• Shelter Simulation

Volunteers will fill a wide variety of shelter needs, including shelter managers, first aid and food service providers, communications workers, including ham radio operator and public service officer, and people to help with maintenance, registration and shelter inspections, entertainment and activities. Also needed are people with medium-size trucks.

Anyone interested in volunteering will be asked to complete an application. Call Liz Henderson at 789-2362 for more information.