A Lawrence church is hosting an upcoming active shooter response training workshop for members of the public.

The workshop, led by a national company specializing in such training, is aimed at preparing leaders from local businesses and organizations to go back and train their respective staffs and members on what to do if the unthinkable — but possible — happens.

The two-day workshop is scheduled for Nov. 1-2 at Immanuel Lutheran Church and University Student Center at 2104 Bob Billings Parkway, across the street from the University of Kansas campus. The cost is $595 per person.

For the church, organizing the training is morally driven, said Nancy Weinkauf, a member of the church’s property and grounds board, and the pastor’s wife.

“We just felt it was something we could do for Lawrence as well as for ourselves,” she said. “You just have so many mass shootings, and then you have to look at Kansas being open-carry, and the university permitting concealed-carry on campus. It just makes sense to want to do everything you can to protect you and your work environment.”

The church is providing a physical location for the training session and is trying to publicize it, Weinkauf said.

The company putting on the training and handling registration is the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) Training Institute.

ALICE classes “provide preparation and a plan for individuals and organizations on how to more proactively handle the threat of an aggressive intruder or active shooter event,” according to the company’s website. ALICE’s “option based tactics” have become the accepted response, versus the traditional “lockdown only” approach, the website says.

Weinkauf said the church started researching the training and discussing it after it was recommended by a church member’s relative, who had taken it.

“It’s training the trainer,” she said.

Several people already are signed up for the workshop, Weinkauf said, including an Immanuel Lutheran Church member who will be responsible for leading training for the roughly 500-member congregation.

She said there is a minimum number of participants required for ALICE to conduct the training, and that the church asks interested participants to sign up by mid-October. Registration should be done through the ALICE website, alicetraining.com.

Personally, Weinkauf said she wants to know how to protect herself.

She sees getting educated as being proactive.

“I would just like to have all the knowledge available to me to get out of a situation, if at all possible,” Weinkauf said. “To duck under a pew and wait for somebody to shoot me just doesn’t do it for me.”

How to participate

To participate in the ALICE Training Institute workshop planned at Lawrence’s Immanuel Lutheran Church, register online at alicetraining.com.

Click on ‘View training calendar’ then search by state to find the Lawrence session.

The training is scheduled for Nov. 1-2 at the church, 2104 Bob Billings Parkway. The cost to participate is $595 per person. The church asks that participants register by mid-October.