Weekly Challenge and Assignment (Week of August 1st)

Hi Carson Ward Family,

Remember to check out the other blog postings below that will help you with your Emergency Preparedness. Some blogs below are still a work in progress.

Weekly: Each week I will post a weekly challenge for you and your family, plus an assignment to add a couple of items to your 72 Hour Kit, Car Kit and 3 Month Emergency Food Supply. This will make it easier financially to complete these items. If you miss a week, we will repeat this list again once we are through the list, or you can add this weeks items to next weeks items.

Remember: Each week when you put a comment at the end of each week's challenge and assignment your name will be put into a drawing to possibly win something to help you and your family with your Emergency Preparedness. It might be food, non-food items, a water barrel pump or wrench, etc. Click on the comment below, just put in you read this blog and your name and post it anonymously.

Quote:

"The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the Ark was to the people in the days of Noah." Ezra Taft Benson

Weekly Challenge:

1. Set up an Emergency Fire Escape Plan for your home with several escape plans. You never know where the fire might be and which escape plan your family may need to follow. This also applies to someone who lives alone. In a panic you may loose your since of direction.

2. Draw out the Escape Plan and put a copy behind each bedroom door and other room doors in your home. Make sure you put it at a level so the younger children can see it.

3. Review and practice these escape plans with your family. Have a Family Home Evening about it.

4. Have Fire Drills monthly if you have young children and quarterly if older family members. The more they practice, the better they will handle a fire situation.

Personal Story: When our children were young we would call out fire, this is a practice drill, at different times and even had fire drills in the middle of the night (we usually picked a weekend night for this). This was just so they would know what to do in case of a fire. We would shout out where the fire was and what was blocked. Sometimes they had to go out their windows. If you have a 2 story house you might want to practice them using the window fire ladder. We taught them if it was a real fire and they cannot get the window open, it was alright to take something to break the window (and not use their hands), put a blanket over it and climb out, and how to take off the screen. We had children of various ages in the same room. The older children were in charge of making sure the younger ones got out if we could not get to them. Penny who was 11 was in charge of Heidi who was 1. If they had to go out the window, Tammy (10) would climb out first, then Penny would hand Heidi to Tammy and then Penny would climb out.

5. Decide on a meeting place outside, either a neighbors yard or a tree, etc. When you have your Fire Drill, meet there.

6. Teach them how to use a Fire Extinguisher and where it is kept. Teach them how to handle an oil fire on the stove. Teach them how to call 911.

7. Teach your family about "Stop, Drop and Roll".

8. If you have a 2 story house and do not have a Fire Escape Ladder, purchase one and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is keep and how to use it. It is a good idea to have one in each bedroom if possible.

9. Gather all your important papers (ID cards, insurance papers, Passports, computer backup discs, etc.) and put them in one place for easy access. Every family member should know where they are in case they are home alone. Also, put all family photos together in one place. Decide ahead of time what is important and you would like to try and save. Assign different family members to gather certain items, if time, so one person does not have to remember and get everything. Even in an evacuation you may only have a few minutes.

Remember: "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." Help your family to be prepared for a home fire.

Weekly Assignment:

72 Hour Kit Assignment:

1. Determine how many 72 Hours Kits you will need (one for each family member) and which menu plan you will follow on the blog below "72 Hour Kits". Take the items to buy this week and multiply it by the number you will need.

2. This week purchase Granola Bars and Juice Box drinks as needed. Example:

If you have 4 family members and Granola Bars down for 3 breakfast meals you will need 12 Granola Bars. Same for Juice Boxes.

Note: If you are setting up 72 Hour Kits for home, the car and work, make sure you purchase enough items for those kits too or just work on the home ones first.

3. Get a large zip lock bag, put each family member's name on one bag, put the purchased items inside to better keep track of the purchased items for each 72 Hour Kit.

4. Watch for sales, go to the 99 Cent Store, Costco or Sams Club.

Car Kit Assignment:

1. Check out the Emergency Car Kit blog below. Start one for each car or just work on one at a time if you have more than one car.

2. Purchase a flashlight with extra batteries for each car. Put it in your Car Kit storage container. Place the storage container in your trunk or car. Of course, you can add more items on the list if you would like.

3 Month Emergency Food Supply Assignment:

1. Set up a chart to keep track of the items you purchase in a month for your families meals. See the 3 Month Emergency Food Supply blog below for information about this.

2. Buy 5 extra cans of vegetables or some other canned item you purchase this week while doing your grocery shopping. Last week I found lentils and navy beans on sale for a $1 for a one pound bag. I bought 5 of each.

Great find: Go to TheFoodGuys.com and pull up their Food Storage Calculator. Put in the number of people in your family by ages as mentioned it will calculate how much you will need of those items listed for a year. It does not have everything but items most people use.

Good luck with all the challenges and assignments for this week. Email or call (310-835-0902)me if you need help. The blog email is thearkcarsonward.blogspot.com

"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."