Emergency Preparedness Fair

Emergency Preparedness Fair
Hosted by Be Prepared Cincinnati

October 24, 2009
9:00am - noon
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
7118 Dutchland Pkwy, Liberty Township, OH 45044


Blood Drive with Community Blood Center (9:00am - noon)
*register online by clicking here

Presenters include:
American Red Cross

Topics to be covered:

*Canning

*Food Storage

*Wheat Demonstration

*Gardening

*Sanitation Kits

*Water Filtration

*72 hour kits

*Amateur Radio & other communications

*Cooking methods

West Chester Police Department has just confirmed that they will have a booth at the fair. They will be doing FREE computerized fingerprinting for the children, and will providing the parents with the fingerprints on a CD.

Also, you can register to donate blood by clicking here!

Pass along the word!

Create your Family Emergency Plan

Last year, our Stake encouraged us to have our Family Emergency Plans put together. If you accomplished this, great. If not, let's do it now.

I just reviewed mine and found it was already out of date (Yikes!)

Here is what I'm using:

PDF form

Excel form

Details can be found at Ready.gov.

As I was working on my new, improved, updated plan, I came across an online form. Try it here.

What do you use?

High Wind, again...

As you have probably heard by now, The weather service has issued a High Wind Warning for Cincinnati. They are discussing the possibilities of sustained winds of at least 40 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph. You can read all the details here.

Some of this should sound familiar. Just last fall, Hurricane Ike came through Cincinnati. I'm sure no one has really forgotten, and if so, I hope you will soon remember. As I drove home this morning, it was enjoyable to listen to the radio and hear the DJs talking about potential power outages and the need for preparedness items.

I would hope that my readers would be ready for any disaster, especially a wind disaster (since they seem to like us so much...). I'm especially excited to see if my new roof holds up. Yep, it's 2 weeks old. (We'll see how many referrals I give after tomorrow morning.)

What kinds of preparations are you making for this evening? Hopefully, you know where your candles, lanterns, and flashlights are (if the wind manages to knock out power again). And, how many of you decided that the generators you bought during/after Ike weren't necessary any more? Hopefully, regret will not be a word in your vocabulary in the morning. If you have a generator, are you willing to share it with your neighbors and friends?

Just some thoughts. I'd love to hear yours!

Article from ldschurchnews.com: Storms test members' preparation

Be Prepared Cincinnati thought you might be interested in reading the following story, which appeared on ldschurchnews.com.


Storms test members' preparation

At least 42 deaths were reported after a massive winter storm traveled from Texas to Maine and on through Canada Thursday, January 29. Homes, businesses, schools and entire areas were blacked out as 1.3 million people were left without power.

Among the areas hardest-hit was northwest Arkansas and southwest Kentucky, where 1-2 inches of ice caused power lines to fall, leaving homes without power and broken trees throughout communities.

"We were hammered," said Hal Bradford, president of the Springdale Arkansas Stake. "In spite of difficulties, it has been a blessing to see the sense of community and it gave us the opportunity to serve and help people around us."


With trees strewn throughout the roads, members worked side by side their neighbors to clean up and clear out their community.


"It creates a sense of unity," said President Bradford of the storm. "The things that normally divide people — occupation, education, background — in a disaster situation like this, goes away. All have common interests in needing warmth, a roof over their head and to be fed. Differences are put aside and [people] come together."


The severe storms, which forced more than 6,500 residents to flee their homes, caused an estimated 45 million dollars in damage.


In an effort to help, relief supplies were sent from bishops storehouses located in Texas, Indiana, Louisiana and Georgia. Generators, blankets, hygiene kits, cots, water, food and other supplies that were distributed through the local Red Cross shelters in Kentucky.


"The Church immediately responded and put generators on a truck," said President Bradford. "They [the Church] provided 20 generators and we needed 19. We saw miracle after miracle."


In the Arkansas and Kentucky areas all missionaries and members are reported safe, with local leaders caring for the needs of affected areas. Many members opened their homes to neighbors because they were prepared with generators and food storage.


"Everyone we had in our home were non-members," President Bradford said. "People would ask, 'Why do you have all of this?' We could then answer that we are taught to prepare so in times of hardship we can provide for ourselves and our family [and neighbors]."


By following the counsel given by Church leaders, members prepared for the storm, and were able to quickly assess the situation.


"The organization of the Church is in place to care for every single member," President Bradford said. "On Tuesday we got on the phone to start having phone call chains and it was already being done. The members knew what to do and every single member could be accounted for."


Although the storm and damage associated with the storm weren't wanted, they can, if handled in the right way, be turned into a spiritual lesson, President Bradford said.


"It has just been a faith-building experience," he said. "It was a reminder to me that new programs aren't needed, but that we just need to execute what we have already been given."

Full Story: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56545/Storms-test-members-preparation.html



I hope that we can all learn from this wonderful article that we should share what we have with others; we should also teach others that they can be prepared as well.