With Valentine’s Day approaching, it’s the perfect time to help your team practice articulating your preparedness and response efforts as an expression of love. Whether it’s love of friends and family, or love of community and personal interests, most people will be happier and more interested in participating in disaster readiness activities when the context and reason is wrapped around who or what they love.

A simple way to start is to ask each member of your team “who do you love?” Follow up with making sure they do something to increase the preparedness of the people they named. For some people, an easier question to open the discussion is “what do you love to do?” Together you can find ways to weave preparedness into whatever activity they choose!

Tip: To get everyone into the mood, share what you absolutely LOVE about preparedness, safety, and disaster readiness

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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February 7th, 2011 | Tags: community, Family, Holiday, love, personal, Preparedness, team, team-building, Teambuilding | Category: 2011, STAT, STAT 5MM | Leave a comment

The holidays are filled with opportunities to give your time to make a difference.  Even small amounts of time spent volunteering can make a big difference in the preparedness and safety of your agency, community, or family.

Some ideas:

However much time you have available for volunteering, dedicate at least a small portion to building the safety and resilience of your community!

Tip: Remember to check out your local Volunteer Center for more opportunities to connect.

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December 20th, 2010 | Tags: gift, Holiday, holiday preparedness, Preparedness, safety minded gift, time, volunteer | Category: 2010, STAT, STAT 5MM | Leave a comment

Many of us will engage in sharing gifts with colleagues, neighbors, friends, family and teammates at holiday parties. For safety enthusiasts this is a wonderful way to share your passion for preparedness. You can increase the readiness of all participants by incorporating safety sensibilities and helpful items into the event itself.

Some ideas:

• Shiny silver mylar blankets make excellent, reusable table cloths and curtains
• Small LED flashlights can be used by each person to signal when they have a toast, acknowledgment or comment to share
• Wrap presents with bandanas — decorated with colorful Sharpie markers or tied with ribbon — which can then be added to personal go-kits

This is a great way to show the everyday utility and practicality of preparedness supplies and gently thread awareness through your event.

Tip: Take lots of photos and after the party, ask people if they can point out all the ways safety and preparedness items appear in the pictures.

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December 13th, 2010 | Tags: emergency preparedness, Holiday, holiday preparedness, Preparedness | Category: 2010, STAT, STAT 5MM | Leave a comment

One of the most valued gifts you can give is to make people aware of the difference they make. Prepare before your next team gathering to give special thanks, appreciation and acknowledgment – publicly and privately – to the people who make preparedness a reality.

Emergency responders are deservedly given all kinds of accolades and praise, so be sure to bring special attention to the champions of the less glamorous tasks of daily safety and preparedness.  Look over your team roster and see what steps people took to forward safety and preparedness. Did they patiently push-through the bureaucracy of a grant, or perhaps do all the scheduling for a class or drill, or were they the consistently smiling and willing “go to” participant?

Seek out the unsung, behind-the-scenes heroes of your preparedness efforts and sing out their praises.

Tip: Beyond helping people to recognize preparedness as a noble and heroic undertaking, have your words also help people to value simply being consistent and persistent in fulfilling on a stated goal.

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December 6th, 2010 | Tags: appreciate, communication, Holiday, Preparedness, team | Category: 2010, STAT, STAT 5MM | Leave a comment

Happy New Year! If your New Year’s resolution is about preparing your family, friends, colleagues, or community, consider embracing a new way of being “prepared.”  Please join us in making 2010 the year we become Prepared to Prosper!

Positive in outlook and approach (no disaster, doom, and fear)
Realistic about what is sustainable (not just what is attainable)
Educated on what really matters (to the people you serve)
Powerful in mobilizing assets (EVERY community has assets)
Able to communicate quickly and clearly (using multiple methods)
Resourceful like MacGyver (there is no limit to creativity)
Empowered to speak the truth (even when it’s not popular)
Determined for all to succeed! (Yes, everyone can succeed!)

From all of us at CARD, we hope you are happy, healthy, and PREPARED for 2010!

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December 28th, 2009 | Tags: Holiday, message, New Year, positive, Preparedness, prosper | Category: 2009, STAT, STAT 5MM, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Whether it’s hanging a simple wreath, stringing festive lights, or erecting a major outdoor holiday display, this time of year causes us to pull out and put up many kinds of decorations. This is a great opportunity for safety and preparedness enthusiasts! We can demonstrate and insist on proper ladder use, ensure that decorations do not obscure fire alarms, extinguishers, first aid kits, or exits, and remind people of and help them to follow the safety instructions on packages. While you’ve got the ladder and tool box out, it’s also a great time to post safety signage and nudge notices, install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, attend to minor repairs, and use some museum wax or earthquake putty to secure breakables.  Holiday decorations may get more notice, but decorating for safety can save lives!

For free safety signage and nudge notices, please visit: http://cardcanhelp.org/resources/

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November 30th, 2009 | Tags: celebration, Family, Holiday, Preparedness, saf, Safety | Category: 2009, STAT 5MM | Leave a comment

For many, this holiday season comes with some extra stress. Some stressors include: how to have safe gatherings during a pandemic, gift giving when money is limited, or simply helping friends or family through hard times. There is one key preparedness solution to help with all of these issues: communication. Get EVERYONE communicating. Some things to address: handling flu safety, using free services (including Skype) to include people who can’t attend in person, and limiting or foregoing gifts entirely.

The important thing is to get EVERYONE communicating, updating everyone’s contact information, and flexing your individual and collective capacity to reach each other by email, text messages, conference calls, social media or other means.  Prepare for a wonderful, loving holiday season by communicating and building resilient communication systems with the people you love most.

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November 16th, 2009 | Tags: communication, Family, Holiday | Category: 2009, STAT, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The last six weeks of the year are traditionally filled with holiday celebrations and feasts, and food is often a big part of these events. Embrace frugality, sustainability and prosperity planning by striving for zero waste. Know which agencies in your community accept extra food. Call your local 2-1-1 service provider, search the web for potential partners, and start the event knowing how leftovers will be handled. Each agency has its own rules about accepting prepared food, requiring advance notice, etc. – so prepare now and arrange this in advance. Let’s make sure that no food goes to waste in our community and that we are prepared for this food to make a greater difference. Bonus: This builds your peacetime relationships with agencies serving vulnerable residents and flexes our collective capacity to leverage every resource – two great practices!

Check Out: Alameda County Community Food Bank

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November 9th, 2009 | Tags: donation, food, Holiday, partner | Category: STAT 5MM | Leave a comment

Many of us visit with friends and family over the holidays. While you’re together, slip in a little bit of simple social preparedness. Each of these actions leaves you a little more prepared: get new photos of each other; exchange updated contact information; and make sure you know each other’s designated out-of-area emergency contacts. If you’re visiting with loved ones who might not think to address their own preparedness, help them be more prepared by writing down important information, programing key information into their phones, and asking them to help you practice some preparedness skills. Have them quiz you on CPR or First Aid questions or ask them to review your emergency plan — to see whether they can think of something you’ve overlooked. Both of you will be more prepared as a result!

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December 15th, 2008 | Tags: Family, Holiday | Category: STAT 5MM | Leave a comment