Maria Moreno, the Western Division’s new Emergency Disaster Services director, is a self-proclaimed “nerd.”
She lives and breathes anything involved with EDS.
“I am a big EDS ‘nerd,’” Maria said with a chuckle. “I am happy with that title because I do have a passion for it. I just have a passion for learning it and building on it and making our division better.”
Hired as EDS manager in September 2021, Maria has been in charge of training and recruitment and many seasonal efforts like the summer feeding program for children and Winter Night Watch, which distributes food and warm accessories to people experiencing homelessness. In July she was promoted to director.
In the fall, she organized and oversaw the division’s first EDS summit in more than six years at Western Plains Camp in Sioux City, Neb. Eighty two people attended, representing Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. The three-day event was attended by corps officers, service extension personnel and EDS volunteers.
When not attending classes, guests stayed in cabins, ate together and had a camp-like experience.
“It was great fellowship,” Maria recalled.
Workshops focused on everything from public information officer duties and food safety guidelines to Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network and emotional and spiritual care.
“It was absolutely wonderful. It was a fantastic experience, meeting everyone. You can send someone an email, but it’s not the same as putting a face to that email,” Maria said.
Workshops for beginners and more advanced students were offered.
“We looked and discovered our division was lacking in basic training,” Maria said. “But we also had officers who were advanced and wanted to take specialized classes to develop their EDS skills. We had wonderful instructors and offered the crème de la crème.”
All trainers came from outside of the Western Division—but that will soon change, Maria said. She plans to have a number of Western Division representatives trained and ready to teach at the next summit.
The delay between summits was due in large part to the pandemic, Maria said.
“Now we are aiming to have a summit every two years,” she explained. “Our down year will be a year to explore and offer training at different corps—to see how the corps want to grow with EDS.”
