DECATUR - Residents had not actually witnessed a shootout involving the GM Square and Old King's Orchard neighborhoods the previous day.

They were involved in an exercise Tuesday afternoon by members of Macon County's new Neighborhood Crisis Response Team, who fanned out from the intersection of Edward Street and Grand Avenue to distribute information about how to protect children from violence, how a traumatic event can affect children and how adults can help them.

"This is not just a drill," said Pam Burkhart, project coordinator for Macon County Safe from the Start. "The neighborhoods will actually get information about what we do."

Burkhart was speaking to more than a dozen team members and neighborhood leaders gathered near Care Force One, the Macon County Health Department's mobile health unit.

Some participants stayed to staff the unit, as at least two volunteers would in the aftermath of a real crisis, while the rest worked in groups of two or more, knocking on doors, hanging an information card on the doorknob if no one was home and giving out bags containing information and coloring books to people who answered.

"I think it's a good thing," said Linda Crist, who came to her door with her 4-year-old granddaughter Hannah. "It gives you something to think about, and we do have a lot of things going on around here."

Since it was activated Aug. 1, the Neighborhood Crisis Response Team has handled one actual case involving shots fired Aug. 20 near East Lincoln Avenue and South Maffit Street over the theft of balloons. Four volunteers went with Care Force One to the neighborhood two days later and spent two hours sharing information.

"They were so thankful to have somebody care about what had happened there," said Jean Moore, executive director of the Macon County Child Advocacy Center and one of the volunteers who went to the scene.

She said adults who have witnessed a trauma too often talk about it so that children can overhear without giving them clear, honest information directly. Other tips for helping children recover include providing a consistent routine, discussing expectations for their behavior and giving them choices and some sense of control.

The team considered responding after the drowning of a Lovington toddler Sept. 17 in an ornamental pond on Devonshire Road in Decatur, but leaders could not determine that a child witnessed any part of that tragedy and feared the team's presence would only intensify the neighborhood's grief.

"One of our first considerations is to do no harm," Burkhart said. "We're still in the process of feeling our way."

Tuesday's exercise also was a learning experience, as participants wondered if it was OK to knock on the doors of houses with "no trespassing" signs posted (Decatur patrol officer E. Cunningham told them it was), and one group jumped back from a barking dog clawing at the glass on the other side of the door.

Burkhart has stressed to volunteers that their role is to provide information and referral to community services, not counseling. She also said 17 people have taken training to serve on the team, but she would like to have closer to 50.

"We need to recruit more neighborhood people," she said. "I think it made a difference today that we had people from the neighborhoods with us."

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@;herald-review.com or 421-7978.