In case you haven't noticed, Molly and I have had a pretty rad start to our week, and yesterday was absolutely no exception. In fact, we were so excited to be able to join one of our Charlotte-Mecklenburg Volunteer Emergency Support Team (CM-VEST) members, Tara, with her after-school group Girls on the Run at Tega Cay Elementary over in Tega Cay, South Carolina. We were even able to take a ten-minute pit stop on the side of Lake Wylie and soak up a few beautiful moments in nature before we arrived at the school. It was a beautiful day, if I do say so myself!
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| Perfect day for a quick stop by the lake! |
At this presentation, we showed Tara's students a sample of a bag that we would want for everyone to have ready somewhere near where they sleep in case he or she wakes up in the middle of the night to a smoke alarm sounding and needs to escape within that two-minute (on average) window. It is a great idea to assemble one if you haven't already; you would be amazed what will fit into an average-sized backpack. Ours includes many of these items:
- Bottle of water
- Snacks
- Book
- Toilet paper
- Soap
- First aid kit
- Tissues
- Notebook and pen
- Bag for trash
- Flashlight
- Batteries
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- Baby wipes
- Blanket
This is certainly not an exhaustive list, and this is the main message of the presentation we were able to share with these girls. What you keep in your emergency go-bag is, essentially, completely up to you, and it should reflect what you will need in that immediate period of time, as well as some things that will provide comfort to you in a time of stress.
At the end of the presentation, we had the girls draw out some of the items that they would choose to keep in their emergency go-bags. Molly and I were quite impressed with the thought the girls put into their supply lists, especially with those who thought to include matches or a lighter (What if you need to heat something up with a fire?!), as well as those who brought chargers for electronics like cell phones which could lose battery life quickly during an emergency response. Of course, Molly and I had to draw out some items we would keep in our go-bags as well. Molly's comfort items included Cheese-Its, a kimono, her Kindle, cash (in case you can't make it to the bank!), and while they certainly wouldn't fit in her bag, she plans to carry out her cats and guitar with her as well. I decided to stow away some pretzels, dice, a can of kidney beans (my favorite comfort food) with a manual can opener, as well as my favorite shirt and sweater, and my trumpet!
Tara, thank you so much for letting us share our preparedness knowledge and admittedly wild and crazy spirits with your Girls on the Run session yesterday, and please know that we had the most amazing time and cannot stop telling hilarious stories from our shared afternoon!
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| We all have some great ideas for what to keep ready in case we need to get out fast! |
If you have any questions about emergency go-bags or want some presentation ideas for this age group, feel free to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org. We love to keep sharing preparedness ideas with as many people as we can, and we like to think everyone in this world is as excited about preparedness as we are.
Stay safe, y'all!
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