A Great Idea for Sharing
A while back I received this email from someone who has been following our Seven Steps program. She related the following story which I feel is a great idea.
We are presenting Emergency Preparedness nights for our married children and their children–one family at a time. We had thought about presenting this information at our family reunion this summer, but opted to seeing each family individually. We have just completed the third presentation. It’s interesting how different each has been. It was definitely the best idea to take this sensitive subject and present it one family at a time so we could have some meaningful dialog. We’ve had some interesting comments and reactions. We gave printed material to each; I copied your Seven Steps ideas for their information and files. The individualized list for each family member’s backpack was well received from all. I reduced the size of these to half a sheet. I took your list and formatted it in three columns which can be checked off, placed in an envelope, and put in a zipped pocket of their 72-hr. kit for future inventories and purchases without taking everything out of the backpack. The last two families have done quite a bit of preparation. (They have a little older children) We suggested their meeting to assess what they have and determine what they need. Both families were very agreeable. It seemed very impressive to show them the actual money in the pouches in our kits instead of just talking about it. We asked questions, “Why might you need cash in an emergency?” etc. Even the kids could come up with meaningful answers All agreed that having important papers together was a priority and something no one had done yet. All families have been extremely appreciative that we came.
Our children all have a binder organized in Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage categories created in January 2006. Later that year, Christmas 2006, we gave each family a large duffle bag which I called, “72-hour Kitchen in a Bag.” Included was a one-burner propane stove with several canisters of propane, a folding frying pan, packets of dehydrated food, utensils, plastic plates (from the dollar store), etc. It was a hit. This Christmas we made some Personal Identification Kits for everybody.
Wanting to further motivate our kids and ourselves, we have organized our presentation for each family. After showing a short DVD we started talking about the 72-hr. kits in particular. I had printed your Seven Steps, Week 1-3 for them, and we informally discussed what we had around the house that could go into their 72-hr. kits. My husband and I packaged three different items which we gave each family: 1. Some of your glow sticks in a baggie with instructions on usage, etc. for each family member. (We demonstrated one of ours on one of the little children and talked about its merits, etc. We all went in a dark room and saw how bright it was and what advantage this could be in a power outage! This was a huge hit!) 2. We then gave them some long-lasting Hand & Body Warmers & discussed those for a while and how we could use them. 3. We handed out some pouches of water–stressing the importance of having water in our kits and stored water to grab in our homes. During our first presentation the little kids then ran and grabbed their backpacks, and they started an impromptu treasure hunt for things they had around the house using the list of items I had printed for them to put in their 72-hr. kits. Our daughter-in-law took the check-off list and marked things she wants to pick up tomorrow at the store to add to them! She said, “This is something I think about every day; I want and need to do it–but have never gotten started, until now!” It was so exciting. Actually giving them some different yet meaningful things for their kits turned out to be a great idea.
Because we are sensitive to the fact that young children might be frightened, I talked to them about how students do fire drills to be ready in case of a fire or emergency on a monthly basis, and yet there are usually no fires. The idea is to be prepared. Our son said that his company literally spends thousands of dollars for preparedness in case of emergency at work, but confessed that he had not done a thing for his own family. It truly was a wake-up call for him. We all said that gathering important documents together was a huge priority. My husband and I are working on that one this coming week! We let them know that we are far from finished–but realize that we must be working on this a little at a time all the time. Last year we had an earthquake a few miles away in Wells, NV–knocking out water, power, & gas. We also had a horrible snow storm in nearby Alpine, UT, which stranded children in an elementary school, and they were sequestered there overnight. We need to be getting bettered prepared.
This year for Christmas I am putting all your ideas together from “Seven Steps to Preparedness” and printing a booklet for each family and close friends
Like they say on each airplane flight, “In an emergency attach the oxygen mask to your own face first before you try to help someone else.” I am working constantly to get better prepared and live more off our own storage. I have a big walk-in closet dedicated to Emergency Kits and food storage. I am continually using items and updating supplies as I add to it. I am trying to be a good example to our family by living these principles.
Isn’t that a great idea? We all need to be sharing what we know and helping others to see the importance of preparing to care for all your own needs. We could do this not only in our families but also in our neighborhoods. Thanks for sharing. I’m sure you have given others something to think about and plan for.
I just came across this site and I really like the weekly “to do”s. If I am just showing up, should I do the weeks you have now? I feel like your weekly to do lists apply to the seasons…so I am figuring that starting here is good. What can I do to be caught up?
Thanks for doing this.
Sure, start now. The one thing you may want to do is to go back to the first post and start a binder and also mark the items mentioned with the date you opened them. Read the post and you’ll understand. Just click on the Seven Steps under the categories list and they will all come up. Let me know if you have any questions after you take a look. Welcome!
Generally I don’t comment on sites, but I would like to say that your article really persuaded me to do so! very good article.