7 Day Challenge Information

Our 7 Day Challenge is quickly approaching! Are you prepared? I wanted to give a little bit more information about how it is going to work.

Our 7 Day Challenge is scheduled from August 16-22. Each day there will be a different scenario about an emergency situation, or how food storage may come in handy, or something involving Emergency Preparedness/Food Storage. These scenarios will be posted here on our Emergency Preparedness blog (www.EastvalePrepared.blogspot.com), they will be posted on facebook (search for Eastvale Prepared - and become a member of the group today), and they will be emailed to anyone that is on my email list.

The information posted will give you a list of tasks to accomplish and it will tell you what your limitations are for the day (what utilities may be out, etc.) There will be a beginner level and a more advanced level for those who want an extra challenge. Some days will be harder than others. I'd like you and your family to participate TO THE EXTENT THAT YOU CAN. So here are the questions that I'm getting - Do I have to go to work?? YES. Are my kids supposed to go to school?? YES.

That being said, you may need to modify the challenge a little bit to fit your family. For example, there may be one day that the scenario states you have to grab your 72 hour kit and evacuate your home (wow - that was a HUGE :) hint) within an hour of reading the email. On that day, I might modify that challenge for my family so that we evacuate as soon as everyone gets home from school - I know where all the supplies are, so this challenge would be more effective if my kids and husband :) have to go through the process to see if THEY know where the supplies are. On another day, our schedule may be too full to fully participate, and if all we can do on that day is brainstorm and discuss the scenario as a family - that's ok! Anything is better than nothing! Try to participate TO THE EXTENT THAT YOU CAN!

When I did this, I learned a LOT of things! I had water in a 55 gallon barrel, but I didn't have the siphon to get the water out. I had planned to pack up my scrapbooks and pictures if I had to evacuate, but I realized that I didn't have any boxes or packing tape on hand. I was able to see some of the flaws with my plan and fix/modify them. A great thing to do is to take notes/create a to-do-list as the challenge progresses. I'll post a form you can download when we get a little closer to the Challenge.

Some things I'd like you to do:
*Each day of the Challenge, log onto the blog and answer the questions relating to that day (the answers are anonymous) - we'll use those answers to provide some statistics to help us better understand/analyze the results. (Does that mean you can get on the computer, even on a day the scenario states we don't have any electricity?? YES, BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE VISITING THE BLOG OR FACEBOOK SITES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHALLENGE :)
*I'd like to see more "chatter" - comments, facebook posts - I'd like this to be fun, exciting, and interactive. We can learn and get ideas from other people's experiences that may help and improve our plan. Someone may mention in a comment or post, something that we hadn't thought about. The comments will also help us to understand/analyze the results of our 7 Day Challenge.
*Keep a list of things that you need to purchase, work-on, or add to your plan (a form will soon be available on the blog to download).
*Include your friends, family and neighbors! If someone would like to be added to the email list, let me know - I'd be happy to add them.

I've heard GREAT stories about the things that people are doing to get prepared!! That's AWESOME! So on that note - here is something to work on for your "Cram Session" - it would be a good idea to have a 72-hour kit ready to go! It doesn't have to be elaborate, and anything is better than nothing. Try to include: a change of clothes, food (that you/your kids will eat), water (the recommended is 1 gallon of water per person per day = 3 gallons per person), and a first-aid kit. If you want more information click on 'Informational Topics' near the top of the page.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions! If you facebook - sign up today as a member and start discussing!