Staff members from Catholic Charities of South Jersey and the Diocese of Camden’s Office of Communications participated in Catholic Charities USA’s annual Applied Institute for Disaster Excellence (AIDE) training, held March 16–20 in Orlando, Florida. The national gathering prepares Catholic Charities agencies to respond effectively to natural disasters and humanitarian crises through formation in leadership, case management, communications, logistics, and recovery operations.
Among the South Jersey participants were Brian Wagner, veteran outreach worker, and Avilney Velasquez, case worker. José Sanchez, director of Immigration and Migrant Services for Catholic Charities of South Jersey co-presented – with Jeff Tiner, Chief Program Officer-Clinical Services, Catholic Charities Maine – Leadership Toolbox: Preparing Leaders for Disaster Deployment, a session focused on identifying staff for deployment roles, strengthening organizational readiness, and building resilience in teams serving in crisis environments.
Also presenting was Michael Walsh, director of communications for the Diocese of Camden, who co-led three sessions with Daniel Altenau of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh: Communications 101: Telling the Story YOU Want to Tell, which introduced strategies for crisis messaging and storytelling during disasters; AI in Action: Strengthening Communications for Disaster Response, exploring responsible ways artificial intelligence can support outreach and coordination; and the conference’s concluding tabletop exercise, guiding participants through a simulated emergency response scenario requiring collaboration across leadership, case management, communications, logistics, and partner agencies.
Photo by Agustin Avantes:
