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	BayNET Are we selfish? Chris Wimmer, Chevron Corporation Supervisor, Emergency Preparedness Services BayNET.... the acronym for the BAY area Neighborhood Emergency Teams is an outgrowth of the Train the Trainer programs for Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams. This is often also referred to as CERT or, Citizens Emergency Response Teams.
Chevron supported the San Francisco Fire Department in recruiting and then financially supporting the training of Chevron employee citizens living in San Francisco to be integrated into the Neighborhood teams. Five separate class units were held with 25-30 Chevron employees in each unit. These employees were integrated into existing San Francisco NERT's. This was only the start. Chevron desired to leverage this training into other Bay Area communities. Many communities did not have any programs like NERT available for their citizens. We then worked with the SFFD to provide a Train The Trainer class at Chevron's Concord California office complex. (about 35 miles East of Downtown San Francisco).
	As the three day class was drawing to a close, it was determined that many of the participants desired to continue meeting on a periodic basis to brainstorm and support each other. Thus the birth of BayNET. BayNET and Chevron... so, why do we do this... Chevron provides meeting space at the same Concord facility for BayNET to meet on a quarterly basis. Full audio visual, printing
and other support services are available for the participants. Additionally, Chevron provides a continental breakfast, full lunch and afternoon snacks for all of the participants. So, again .. why does Chevron do this you ask?....It's simple, Chevron employees live in many of the cities and neighborhoods that need to be protected through NERT/CERT. When the next major earthquake occurs, Chevron desires to return to business as soon as possible. We have major operations in the Bay Area which requires specific talent in the form of our employee base. If our employees can help the community recover quickly, then they also will be able to return to work earlier. There are clear financial gains to the companies that return to business as soon as possible after an earthquake. On top of all of these wonderful business reasons, other benefits include the ability of having our employee base be directly involved in the community doing valuable emergency work and the need for our product to be supplied to emergency responders. (Gasoline, Diesel and Propane). In essence, we are an infrastructure provider. Whichever reason you choose, it is important to realize simply that Chevron feels that this support of NERT/CERT and BayNET is just the right thing to do.

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