Show and Tell and Survive…

by Bob Buddemeier

The recent Opportunity Faire provided a unique opportunity for many resident organizations to show what they do, and what other residents could do if they joined.  It also provided a unique opportunity for the Residents Preparedness Group (RPG) to show what residents could do for themselves and for the community — and why they should do it.  RPG’s mission is to assist and support RVM in preparing for and responding to an emergency situation.

A major part of this is educating residents about what they need to be able to do when disaster or emergency strikes — and helping them acquire the necessary knowledge and supplies.  The Opportunity Faire was just that — an opportunity to advertise and inform about Preparedness.   A team headed by Channing Penna and consisting of Ann Rizzolo, Julie Mahoney, Vicki Gorrell, Margie Berger, and Bob Buddemeier set up displays and organized giveaways and a lottery to attract interest and attention.

In the picture at right, Ann Rizzolo and Julie Mahoney point out to Tina Vasavada the suggested contents of a light-weight Go-Bag.  The plastic pails shown are one of the giveaway supply items, provided by Eric Eisenberg from recycled kitchen supplies. In front of Ann is a display of the equipment carried by the RPG coordinators when they are activated to help deal with an emergency situation.

A major draw for the display was the abundance of goodies available — the freebies included the plastic pails, informational bookmarks, and wrist lanyards so that people who need two hands in the dark don’t have to hold their flashlights in their mouths.

Even more impressive were the lottery items donated by Jens Larsen, RVM Security and Emergency Preparedness Director.  The lottery was organized by Vicki Gorrell, who is shown at left.  On the table in front of her are the survival kits, water filter straws, emergency radio, and information handouts.

Seventy residents entered the drawing, and the winners are…

All in all, the RPG team felt that this was a very successful effort, introducing more people to RPG and to preparedness needs and opportunities.  The displays were a big help, both in gaining attention and in explanations.  One lesson learned was that the amount of material could be a bit overwhelming for novices; we will work on providing more focused displays and explanations in the future.

Interested in more information?  The MyRVM Emergency Preparedness page (item 1 in the list above) contains a number of general and RVM-specific information documents, and a link to the RPG page that is under development on MyRVM.  The RPG page is particularly useful in providing information about the network of RPG coordinators, and emergency radio communication.

A Preparedness Manual is posted at https://thecomplement.info/2022/08/07/rpg-manual-resident-preparedness-2/, and provides information on a variety of resident preparedness needs.