Midway through September (which, if you recall, was National Preparedness Month) we included a link on this blog to the Be Red Cross Ready website and reviewed the three relatively simple but extremely important steps everyone should take to be prepared for an emergency.
The three steps – Get a Kit, Make a Plan, and Be Informed – are easy enough…if you commit to them. So I did. Publically. Because I knew that if I didn’t tell all of you that I would “Get a Kit” in September, “Make a Plan” in October, and “Be Informed” in November and December, I’d find a reason not to follow through.
Two weekends ago we logged on to the Be Red Cross Ready website, entered in our family’s information, and gave the go-ahead for the program to calculate what we needed to include in our kit.
Then with a simple click of the mouse the program emailed a shopping list to my inbox.
Last weekend (we had to spread building our emergency preparedness kit out over two weekends due to school, work, soccer, baseball, and gymnastics commitments – I’m sure you understand) we printed off our list and headed to the store. I’ll be honest, shopping was rough. I wanted to focus on the essentials, like water and food, while the kids were much more interested in making sure we purchased the right games and a first aid kit with a picture of a poodle on the package.
Once we arrived home we put it all together. We updated our first aid supplies, pulled together food and water for multiple days, and packed it all – along with a radio, a map, emergency blankets, tarps, flashlights, batteries, duct tape, scissors, and GAMES – in a large waterproof and airtight bin. I opted not to include copies of our personal documents, emergency contact information, and cash in our kit, primarily because we’re going to keep our kit in the garage and I occasionally leave the garage door open during the day. I’ll come up with a different plan for accessing that information in case of an emergency.
So there you have it – “Get a Kit” has been checked off the list. Next up, Make a Plan!
Tell me, where are you on the three steps? Haven’t started yet? Click here!