St. Paul, MN - As in previous years, Nechama participated in the Annual Governor's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Conference held March 2-4, 2004 at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul. This was an opportunity for the state emergency management community to come together with voluntary agencies such as Nechama to 'meet and greet', and become familiar with what voluntary agencies offer the citizens of Minnesota during natural disasters. This year Nechama featured its GoBagger sandbag filling device. Nechama owns about 150 of the devices and loans them to cities and towns for sandbagging efforts. Additionally, Nechama will recruit volunteers to help with sandbagging efforts. The GoBaggers were widely used by the community of Shell Lake, WI when the lake reached flood levels in 2003. The Governor's Conference generally signals the start of Minnesota's disaster season with the presentation of the spring Flood Outlook by the National Weather Service.

L: Dennis Walter, Volunteer Resource Coordinator, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management take a swipe at filling a sand bag with the GoBagger. R: Gene Borochoff (center) discusses Nechama's equipment capabilities with two county emergency managers.