It Happens …cogitations on calamities, cataclysms and catastrophes, preventing, preparing and pulling through.

Dear friends, you may have noticed that it is now September 5th.  In honor of “National Be Late for Something Day”, today’s very short post for National Preparedness Month is…LATE!

“Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.”  (Matthew 25:13)

Remember those fire and tornado drills in grade school?  “Line up single file, move quickly and quietly.  Quickly and quietly, people!”  Despite what some of us may have thought “Yay!  We get to leave this classroom for awhile, maybe someone will goof off and it’ll take longer!”, those drills were not scheduled just for legal compliance or to torture our teachers.  Tornado and Fire drills in schools and workplaces are an important part of preparedness, bottom line, they should keep us on our toes and remind us of “when to go and where to go”.

Let’s not put the cart before the horse.  Preparedness should be a state of mind for all of us living in “interesting times”.  You may ask “Prepared for what?”, for our purposes, the simple answer is:  personal, communal and national disasters whether naturally caused or human caused.  Knowing when to go and where to go is of utmost importance in emergency situations.  Knowing what to bring with you is a good first step.  Watch this little video for some inspiration and take some time this month to work on your personal/family preparedness plans.

For a printable Go-Bag checklist and emergency contacts (for the 27 counties served by Catholic Charities of Kansas City- St. Joseph), email:  sdeitchman@ccharities.com

By Shayna Deitchman, AmeriCorps Disaster Case Manager

#DisasterServicesCCKCSJ #ItHappensCCKCSJ #WhatIsInYourGoBag