The Southwest Utah Public Health Department has compiled a Family Emergency Preparedness Guide.  It is a concise, easy-to read resource that includes information on preparing for and coping with a wide range of emergencies or disasters, including a pandemic. The booklet also includes great lists for preparing 72-hour kits. You can download a copy of the guide here.

I hosted a Preparedness Night last month.  The goal of our night was to give an overview of preparedness principles, and to motivate those in attendance with new ideas for their food storage and preparedness goals.  For any Preparedness Coordinators out there who may be organizing a similar event, I thought it might be helpful to see some ideas I used.  (I know I appreciated the ideas I found online.) The internet is a wealth of preparedness resources, so I spent some time researching ideas and came up with a “BEE” PREPARED theme.  I advertised the event with posters and flyers that read like this:

“Our Church leaders have been buzzing about preparedness for decades now, so how prepared is your hive?

PREPAREDNESS NIGHT & POTLUCK DINNER

DATE / TIME / LOCATION

Sting your preparedness goals with sweet ideas to help you feel more self-reliant.  We will have a guest speaker and great handouts on food storage, gardening, first aid and emergency response that will help you stick with your goals.

HONEY, BEE THERE OR BEE…UNPREPARED!!

Please bring a potluck dish to share using at least one ingredient from your food storage.”

The decor for the night was VERY plain (after all, we’re talking about back-to-basics type principles and food storage just isn’t very glamorous!) On the walls I taped posters with quotes on preparedness and a large beehive.  I had the following displays and handouts set up on tables for guests (They were actually in a different order down the tables, but anyway, here they are…):

I copied 4 Family Home Evening lessons on preparedness so that families could get their members on board with preparedness goals.  These lessons had great information on the reasons to prepare, and inventories to get them started.  I also put out sign up sheets where guests could include their names under given skillsets (like construction,  medical training, education, etc.) that could be useful in the event of a disaster so that we can mobilize and help one another. There was also a sign-up to be included in a preparedness e-mail list.

DON’T BEE HUNGRY (food storage):  You can see some of this display in the photo above.  (I’m sorry there aren’t better pictures to post.  I was busy answering questions that night and forgot to take more pictures.)  The display included #10 cans, food storage buckets with gamma lids, a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, half-gallon mason jars to demonstrate the jar attachment for the vacuum sealer, jars of jam and jelly, and food storage cookbooks. 

Handouts included copies of Wendy DeWitt’s fireside burned to DVD and printouts of her “Everything Under the Sun” booklet (everything-under-the-sun-20081), and  a 52 Week Food Storage Plan (http://pgward.org/ep/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/weeklypurchasingplan-new.pdf),

BEE GREEN (gardening): Vegetable seed packets, a color photo of my trash can potatoes, and these quotes on small easels made up the display: “There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food, even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two.  Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own.–Ezra Taft Benson, October 1980.”

“An almost forgotten means of economic self-reliance is the home production of food.  We are too accustomed to going to stores and purchasing what we need.  By producing some of our food we reduce to a great extent, the impact of inflation on our money.  More importantly, we learn how to produce our own food and involve all family members in a beneficial project.  No more timely counsel, I feel, has been given by President Kimball than his repeated emphasis to grow our own gardens.  Here is one sample of his emphasis over the past seven years: ‘We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property.  Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees–plant them if your climate is right for their growth.  Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard.’ –Pres. Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1976, p. 124″

The handouts for this table were a local planting guide (you can get these for your area from a local university extension office or nursery), and directions for trash can potatoes: trash_can_potatoes .

BEE THRIFTY (“Fix it up,wear it out, make it do or do without!”):On this table, I had smart shopping tips, instructions for couponing (matching coupons with weekly sales), and I asked a woman in my ward to display her quilts and handmade children’s clothes to demonstrate thrift and industry.

BEE WARM (Fuel storage, blankets, and light):  On this table, I had blankets, flashlights, glow sticks, and (I intended to have…) charcoal, an oil lantern, and propane cans.

DON’T BEE THIRSTY (water storage): On this table I had a case of water bottles and a sign that said, “If this is what your water storage looks like, you are going to be thirsty!”  I had a printout for building water drum racks for your garage and also a printout from www.surewater.com that showed upright water storage tanks as one option for home water storage. (The Family Home Evening Lesson packets had info on calculating amounts of water to store.)

BEE READY:  For this display, I asked my friend to bring her awesome 72 hour kits to display.  She organizes her equipment into 5 gallon buckets–one for kitchen / food items, one for bathroom items, and one for first aid items.  I will try to get a copy of her lists to post the contents of her buckets.  I also copied this printout of an excellent 72 hr. kit checklist: http://pgward.org/ep/archives/120

BEE HEALTHY:  This table included information on first aid kits, reminders to store an extra month of prescriptions and vitamins. (One of our guest speakers gave detailed information on what to include in a home first-aid kit.)

The guests milled through the information on the displays and picked up handouts, then we enjoyed the potluck dishes made from food storage items (everything was delicious!).  Our guest speakers, a search and rescue EMT and a County Emergency Response Coordinator, wrapped up the night.  I have received good feedback from the event, and felt like it was a great jumpstart to preparedness goals.

http://www.whatsyourrq.org/

http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php

When preparing for a possible emergency situation, it’s best to think first about the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit: 

· Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation

· Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food

 · Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both

· Flashlight and extra batteries

· First aid kit

· Whistle to signal for help

· Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place

· Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation

· Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities

· Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)

· Local maps

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit:

· Prescription medications and glasses

· Infant formula and diapers

· Pet food and extra water for pet 

· Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container

· Cash or traveler’s checks and change

· Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov

· Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.

· Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.

· Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.

· Fire Extinguisher

· Matches in a waterproof container

· Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items

· Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels

· Paper and pencil

· Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children  

food-storage-list.pdf 

Jeanie,

 I agree completely!  I don’t store anything that I don’t know how to prepare or that my family in not used to eating.  I plan my food storage around meals that our family will eat, and try to make meals that incorporate wholesome staples (wheat, oats, etc.) that have a long shelf-life.  That way my storage is well-rounded and long-lasting.  I also like to utilize both my freezer and my pantry for storage.  We prefer meat and vegetables from the freezer versus a can (if we can’t have fresh), so we store both.  That way if the power goes out, we don’t have to open the freezer; but, if the budget is tight we have foods we like to eat on hand.  Thank you for your comments. 

1. If water is cloudy, smelly or therwise polluted, strain it through a paper towel or several layers of clean cloth into a container in order to remove any sediment or floating matter.

2.  Water that is boiled vigorously for one full minute will usually be safe from harmful bacterial contamination.  Boiling for 3-5 minutes is safer, if you have heat to spare.

3.  If boiling is not possible, strain the water as above and treat by adding ordinary liquid chlorine household bleach (4-6% chlorine) or tincture of iodine (from your medicine chest–2%chlorine) in the following amounts. 

     a.  CHLORINE:  Add 2 drops (with eye dropper) per quart of clean water, 4 drops per quart of cloudy water.  (This equates to 1/2 tsp. per 5 gallons of clean water, or 1 tsp. per 5 gallons of cloudy water.                                                            

FOR A 55 GAL. DRUM, USE 2 TBSP / 4 TBSP. of bleach).

     b.  IODINE:  Add 5 drops per quart of clean water, 10 drops per quart of cloudy water.

 Mix thorougly in container.  Let it stand for 30 minutes.  A slight chlorine odor should be detectable in the water; if not, repeat the dosage and let the water stand for an additional 15 minutes before using.

 It is a great idea to store powdered drink mix to improve the taste of stored water.  Drink mix and disposable drinking cups should be part of your emergency supply. 

Nevertheless, as I began moving things in one closet, I shifted a large pile of blankets that set off a tender string of thoughts.  The first was, “We are so blessed.  Not only are we warm and comfortable every night, but we have a stack of unused blankets.  Something is wrong with me storing blankets…when someone, somewhere is cold.  Sure we need a couple for occasional guests, but this is overkill. We have to donate some of these.” So I began pulling each of the blankets off the stack and trying to decide which should go to Deseret Industries.  But then my mind strayed again as I thought of how these blankets testified to how loved and cared for our family is.  Many of the blankets are handmade quilts, or colorful afghans.  I thought of each of the sweet people who had taken the time to make something to warm my family, and my cheeks started to feel wet.  I thought of others in the world who are lonely, and who feel unloved.  Those blankets made me realize the storage of love that is in my home. 

I did find some blankets to donate, and decided I would photograph all of them for our memory books so that none will be forgotten.  (Note to family members: none of the family heirlooms were donated. )  I will be posting a week-by-week list to help you build your preparedness / food storage and two of the items for January are blankets and sheets.  If you need some for your home storage, now is the time to buy since linens are on sale.  If, like mine, your inventory shows you have enough to share, I hope you count your blessings and donate some to those in need.