One of the first things we did is make sure each of us in the family had a portable 72 hour kit or a ‘go bag’. These are important in case you have to leave your home quickly. The kits are also nice to have in the car in case you are not near your home and have any kind of emergency. We bought suitcases on wheels from thrift shops, made lists of what each person needed and filled the bags. One year, they were Christmas presents.
Because I want to include other contributions to the blog, I have asked the man who helped put the blog together, Ramon Carter, to share his ideas for the kit.
"What's a 72 Hour Kit? It is a kit that contains many multiple consumable items and personal identification documents that can be used to shelter a person during a natural disaster for the period of 72 hours or three days. This provides safety while awaiting for aid/help from family, friends, local groups, state or federal government. Its other functionality is that the individual(s) can have time during the 72 hours to assess the situation without fear of lack of resources.
What should a 72 Hour Kit contain? The most important thing is water. There are many different recommendations of what the kit should be made up of, but water should be king, and materials to purify it. The following link from the state of UT can be used as a beginners guide to getting your kit ready:
https://www.utah.gov/beready/business/documents/72-hourchecklistpdf.pdf (copy and paste this link into your browser.)
How do I know my kit is good? Use it before the need arrives. Schedule a three day weekend and use the contents of the kit for the whole weekend. Since it will be a practice run, make sure to take notes.
You should prepare a portable kit for each member of your family. If permitted, consider preparing one for your place of work as well as one for children to keep at college and one for the car.
Putting together a 72 Hour kit, is one way to gain knowledge about food storage, since everyone needs are unique."
Christmas:
Because it is November and Christmas is coming soon, I wanted to say a little something about Holiday presents. We have wise friends, Gary and Nancy, who one year asked their teenage children what gifts they got for Christmas the year before. None of their teens could remember. So this couple decided to spend their gift money on service projects, family trips or memorable events and spend Christmas Day enjoying family, food, games and being together. This year they are putting their money together and buying a pig or chickens to give to someone in a developing county through www.heifer.org (heifer international). That seemed like a smart idea and creates thinking outside the box.
For many years, we have given 'preparedness' gifts to our adult children and now it has become a tradition. Nice stocking stuffers could be a pocket-sized poncho, a leatherman tool, waterproof matches, a whistle, flashlight, reflecting mirror or other items.
