Resources for
Preparedness Team
Preparedness Survey
December 28th, 2022
The HF Preparedness Leadership Team has been diligently working over the past few months to provide you with information, reference and resource sites, training seminars, and workshop sessions to help you and your family be disaster-ready, with a successful action plan in place and ready to execute....
Got Kids? Preparedness for the Whole Family
December 21st, 2022
When preparing for emergencies and disasters with children in mind, you’ll mostly store the same items you would for any adult in your house, with a few modifications (see below)....
First Aid and Medicines
December 7th, 2022
Unfortunately, in many households’ preparedness efforts, first aid and medications are often overlooked and definitely underfunded. It’s probably the least glamorous of all the preparedness categories!...
Keeping Your Household Safe in an Emergency
November 30th, 2022
A great way to think of emergency preparedness is as a three-pronged approach: home, work, and travel, all of which will have some degree of overlap. This article will focus on the home and specifically home security. Here are some ideas for you to consider in making your home as secure as possible:External lighting: One of the easiest ways to create a higher level of safety is to have excellent e...
Emergency Equipment
November 23rd, 2022
With so many facets of Emergency Planning to consider, we sometimes overlook the aftermath. There is an initial rush of issues related to assessing an emergency and getting settled into the foreignness of what it brings....
Resources
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Why are we focused on Preparedness?
PREPARATION has been encouraged for years by the Harborview Fellowship leaders. We usually do it in September, which is annually recognized as National Preparedness Month. During this month, an annual effort is made to raise awareness regarding the importance of preparing for emergencies that could happen at any time.
This year appears to have an additional impetus toward preparation. It is becoming increasingly evident from multiple and diverse credible sources that food shortages this fall and winter are inevitable. There are also reports of potential fuel shortages and possible power brownouts depending on where people live.
As elders, we have been cautious in addressing this issue lest we be associated with Chicken Little. Chicken Little foolishly cried out the “sky is falling” when it was only an acorn that fell on her head. The lessons from that story are 1) don’t form incorrect conclusions from insufficient data; 2) don’t stoke inappropriate fear in others.
After our own research and allowing some time to pass, we believe we can no longer hesitate as the warnings continue. The evidence appears substantial that such shortages are a strong possibility. Therefore, we want to encourage our church family to take the need to prepare for possible shortages seriously.
What can we do to help navigate such times? The following are a few suggestions adapted from Dr. Joseph Mercola’s recent article Get Prepared with Shelf-Stable Food.
The better prepared we are, the better prepared we can be to help others in difficult times. Also, let’s pray that the potential difficult times that could be on the horizon are mitigated by God.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Blessings on behalf of the HF elders,
Mike
This year appears to have an additional impetus toward preparation. It is becoming increasingly evident from multiple and diverse credible sources that food shortages this fall and winter are inevitable. There are also reports of potential fuel shortages and possible power brownouts depending on where people live.
As elders, we have been cautious in addressing this issue lest we be associated with Chicken Little. Chicken Little foolishly cried out the “sky is falling” when it was only an acorn that fell on her head. The lessons from that story are 1) don’t form incorrect conclusions from insufficient data; 2) don’t stoke inappropriate fear in others.
After our own research and allowing some time to pass, we believe we can no longer hesitate as the warnings continue. The evidence appears substantial that such shortages are a strong possibility. Therefore, we want to encourage our church family to take the need to prepare for possible shortages seriously.
What can we do to help navigate such times? The following are a few suggestions adapted from Dr. Joseph Mercola’s recent article Get Prepared with Shelf-Stable Food.
- Community is an essential resource in such times. One of the reasons for our promoting Neighborhood Groups in our church family is for such times.
- Securing a potable water source and the means to purify less-than-ideal water. This could include water purification tablets and/or personal portable water filtration systems https://theberkey.com/ and https://www.sawyer.com/product-categories/water-filtration#0.
- Buy shelf-stable and nonperishable foods in bulk — freeze-dried foods, for example, have a shelf life of 25 years or more. Canned foods such as canned fish and chicken and dry staples such as rice and beans can also stay viable for long periods https://mypatriotsupply.com/collections/emergency-survival-food.
- Securing energy backups may be needed in preparing for possible energy shortages, brownouts, rolling blackouts, or a complete power grid shut down for a period of time. A gas, diesel, or propane-powered generator is an excellent option if for no other purpose than keeping your food at the appropriate temperature in your refrigerator and freezer.
- Cooking backups are needed during a loss of power. Options can include small rocket stoves, propane camping stoves, volcano stoves, etc. https://volcanogrills.com/.
The better prepared we are, the better prepared we can be to help others in difficult times. Also, let’s pray that the potential difficult times that could be on the horizon are mitigated by God.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Blessings on behalf of the HF elders,
Mike