On February 12, SMART held a special informational session at the MSPCA at Nevins Farm in Methuen. More than 80 people took time out of their weekend to learn more about SMART and the possibility of establishing a disaster animal response team (DART) in Northeastern Massachusetts.

During this session, we discussed:

• the nature of disaster response
• how to be prepared
• how volunteers are deployed
• the types of situations where our help might be needed
• the types of SMART teams and what they do
•  how to become a SMART volunteer

Our partner organization, the American Red Cross, also spoke about how we all need to work together in responding to emergencies.

Special thanks go to Dr. Rachel Klopfer and Chris Arnott for setting up this session and for working to establish an animal response team in this region. We’d also like to thank Stachey’s Pizza of Salem, New Hampshire, for generously contributing lunch for an overwhelming number of participants.

Since that meeting, many of the folks who participated have joined our mailing list and/or become SMART volunteers. If you’re one of them, welcome aboard!