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One of my children, only half-joking, said, “For a wedding present, I want one of your emergency kits!” First, neither of my children is actively pursuing marriage, so that made it a comment out of left field. Second, it’s a strange request because I’ll ensure they both have emergency kits when they move away from home. Maybe that was her way of saying she wouldn’t move out until she’s married? Who knows. But it made me smile because it shows that she notices that we are prepared for emergencies and sees the value in planning for them. She is also the one who plans ahead like me, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
I think it came up because she overheard me talking about the meeting I recently attended for faith communities hosted by the Glynn County Emergency Management Agency (EMA). Glenn and Mother Becky have represented us at some earlier meetings. The intentionality of working with communities of faith around disaster preparedness and response is a new concept for our area. Governments have realized that faith communities are already front-line with vulnerable populations, have solid communication structures, and facilities that can be useful. Combine that with a group of people already motivated to help neighbors, and it’s a good way to establish public-private partnerships.
As I hope you all know, Christ Church already has an excellent hurricane plan, which we’ve implemented and adjusted over the years after putting it into practice several times. We have also done training and obtained equipment for medical emergencies, with up-to-date first aid kits, AEDs, and “Stop the Bleed” kits. The Vestry approved the installation of a full-building generator behind the parish hall after this past winter’s lengthy power outage following an ice storm. It’s not so we can stay open and check email. We have realized there is a need to be able to respond to mild and moderate natural disasters given our location, and we want to be helpful to our neighbors. If we can provide warmth or cooling, offer food, let people charge electronics, or pick up some ice, we want to do that.
We want to formalize an Emergency Planning team as we anticipate the generator’s installation in the coming weeks. This group will review existing plans and make new ones. We will appoint a permanent liaison to the Glynn County EMA efforts. That will mean deciding what we can offer: emotional/spiritual support? Cooling and warming? Overnight emergency shelter? Storage of community supplies? Serve as a point of distribution for County/State/Federal assets? Provide food on site or for takeaway? Assist with cleanup and debris removal? Provide transportation during evacuations? The list of ways we can help is long, and we can’t do everything. But we can do some things.
In addition to simply helping the community, partnering with the County may also mean we get information quickly to disseminate to our community. We might find that we are a priority restoration site for power and utilities. We would likely have team members who can return to the Island sooner during evacuations. We would have access to a list of resources that could benefit our congregation and neighbors. We can do a lot of good work, and we are looking for those interested in helping us think this through and coordinate it. If you’re interested or curious, please let me know.
But, back to emergency kits. One of the reasons that things can go badly so quickly when there is a disaster (hurricane, bad storm, fire, chemical spill, etc.) is because most people aren’t prepared. Many of us can’t take care of ourselves for several days. Granted, some simply can’t afford the luxury of being prepared, but most of us reading this can. We all benefit when we’re each ready to provide for ourselves (and maybe our close neighbors) during an emergency. Having food, water, first aid, batteries, communication tools, etc., on hand really is essential. We would like to host a personal preparedness event again, as we did several years ago. We’re already in hurricane season, but there’s still time to prepare for this hurricane season. Now’s the time to get ready and put things away in a closet – just in case.
We’ll keep working on what we can do as a parish community, and again, if you’re interested in helping us work that through, let me know. We are blessed with so much; it is only right that we provide for our community when it needs us. As we always have.
