{"id":7795,"date":"2011-11-08T02:04:24","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T09:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=7795"},"modified":"2011-11-08T02:04:24","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T09:04:24","slug":"preparedness-starting-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/08\/preparedness-starting-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparedness: Starting the conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got this comment yesterday from BHM reader Vicki O:<\/p>\n

I just read [your article “Circle of Friends”<\/a>] on the Backwoods Home site and I have to say it is the most sensible preparedness info I’ve ever read! I grew up in the sixties reading scifi, and the decisions you would have to make if you had a bomb shelter and no one else did really stressed me out.<\/p>\n

I live in a neighborhood i just moved to 8 months ago. I know my neighbors enough to say Hi to, but that’s about it. Can you tell me a good “opener” for inviting them to an emergency preparedness gathering? I just don’t know the best way to start that conversation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I thought I’d answer here and throw Vicki’s query open for comments, too, since you guys are excellent at this sort of thing.<\/p>\n

First off, thank you for the kind remarks, Vicki. Glad you found the article useful.<\/p>\n

My initial reaction is that I wouldn’t<\/i> open a conversation about preparedness with people I only knew well enough to say “Hi” to, and who might have little in common other than living in the same neighborhood. (But that’s just me, and I’ll modify that judgment a few paragraphs down.)<\/p>\n

If I were living in a new place and wanted to make connections with people who might be open to (and capable of) making emergency or long-term preparations, I would first seek out people who’ve already shown an interest in either preparedness or self-sufficiency. For instance: Mormons; Scout leaders; Red Cross volunteers; Grange members; food co-op members; or people who serve on emergency preparedness boards (e.g. the county where I live has both government-run emergency preparedness meetings and a multi-church committee that exists solely to help out after disasters).<\/p>\n

You might not have to invite anybody to a preparedness gathering; you might get invited to theirs.<\/p>\n

Second, I would start making connections with people (neighbors or otherwise) who shared other interests with me — and that might mean anything from running to books to knitting to golf. Then, as I got to know and trust some of the other people, I’d gradually bring up the subject of preparedness with them. <\/p>\n

A lot of people are either already practising preparedness or are just waiting for somebody else to spur them on. (We saw a perfect example of that just the other day<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Here’s why I wouldn’t start with people who just happen to be neighbors. Well, there are several reasons. But the biggie is that if you open a conversation on preparedness and they’re not interested, they’re still going to remember that you<\/i> are — and guess who’ll be the neighborhood go-to girl when Joe or Josie down the street is caught unprepared? (Speaking of those who-gets-to-go-into-the-bomb-shelter heebie-jeebies …)<\/p>\n

Does this leave you surrounded by unprepared neighbors? For the moment, yes, it might. But that’s better than leaving you surrounded by unprepared neighbors who suspect you’ve got a stash they can “borrow.” And while it may mean that the next-door neighbor, whom you barely know, isn’t in your “Circle of Friends,” you’ve established a broader circle of mutual assistance within your general community.<\/p>\n

Another possibility — if you’re ballsy, if it’s really important to you to have neighborhood<\/i> preparedness, and you’re willing to take organizational initiative (as it seems you are): Volunteer with some community preparedness group (or start your own) and go door-to-door with leaflets inviting neighbors to attend a meeting on the subject. Identify yourself as a volunteer. Hold the meeting in some neutral location (libraries usually have public meeting rooms). This de-personalizes things a bit, making it more about community involvement and less about, “Hey, Vicki can probably take care of us.”<\/p>\n

And of course, should your neighborhood be hit with a beast of a snowstorm, ice storm, wind storm, power outage, etc. this winter … then any neighbor can start talking with any other about being better prepared next time<\/i>.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

So … anybody got more to add? Or anybody want to tell me I’m all wet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got this comment yesterday from BHM reader Vicki O: I just read [your article “Circle of Friends”] on the Backwoods Home site and I have to say it is the most sensible preparedness info I’ve ever read! I grew up in the sixties reading scifi, and the decisions you would have to make if you had a bomb shelter and no one else did really stressed me out. I live in a neighborhood i just moved to 8 months ago. I know my neighbors enough to say Hi to, but that’s about it. Can you tell me a good…<\/p>\n

Continue readingPreparedness: Starting the conversation<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-preparedness","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}