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| Emergency Kits |
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The Emergency
Preparedness Kits Have Changed This Year!! Do not send in the typical comfort kit! We are changing our student supplies to a bulk system that is rotated as needed. This means we will have emergency blankets, ponchos, food, water, light, minimal entertainment and other survival supplies for ALL our children, teachers, staff and a limited number of parent helpers. It will also reduce shuffling of emergency supplies to and from home. What you need to do: * Send in a $5 donation for each child in an envelope marked Emergency Preparedness. This donation covers the cost of rotating perishable food & supplies for the year and supports emergency training of potential helpers. We’ve tried to come up with a minimum donation needed to sustain the needs of the children. In an emergency, we have to share our supplies with all children. Wherever possible, we also need to share the costs. The $5 donation assumes a high level of participation. We all need to work together to keep our costs down. Donations can be combined into a single family payment. * Recommended: Send in your comfort letters with each child. This is a letter you write to your child that offers comfort should we experience a major regional disaster and you are separated. It may include a picture (preferably printed on or attached to the letter.) You may also want to include your family’s emergency out of state contact and meeting places. In a regional disaster, if your child is picked up by a friend or relative, an out of state contact is likely the only way you will be able to check on their status. The letters will be included in a collection for each class and returned at the end of the year. You can leave it loose or put it in a letter sized envelope. Make sure your child’s full name is somewhere on the paper or envelope so we know who to give it to. ;-) ** OPTIONAL: If necessary, send in any other special emergency items. This is totally optional but if there is something important to you that want to include like underwear, change of clothes, etc…, you can still do so. It needs to be in a ziplock (even if it’s a big one) with your child’s name, grade and teacher. We will send that back at the end of the year as well. FAQ’s Regarding Changes to the Emergency Kits Why change the Comfort Kits? We need to improve the student types of supplies covered by our comfort kits. Remember, we are preparing for a regional disaster in which half of the student population leaves every 24 hours. There are several key problems with the traditional emergency comfort kit that need to be addressed. · Anyone staying more than a few hours with a traditional comfort kit would find themselves very hungry for lack of calories. · It is simply unrealistic to expect some children to go hungry, wet or cold while others are serviced from their kits. When inventorying the comfort kits in 2007, we found that in a typical class, about 75% of the students had kits, about half had an emergency blanket and about 25% had ponchos. A bulk system would allow us to meet the needs of ALL the students equally and efficiently. · Every year, kit supplies are handled over and over and create hours of work moving and organizing the supplies from home to school and back again. For this reason, we are switching to bulk supplies that are only replenished as necessary. We ask your support in helping us build this more efficient program. How do the New Student Kits Work? Some supplies like blankets, ponchos, toys and activities will be purchased once and will never move unless they are needed. Other supplies like food and water, hand wipes, sanitizer, etc… will be rotated in bulk as they expire. The food supplies will be significantly bulked up. Instead of having parents collect small food snacks which typically offer between 50-300 calories, we will be storing special food rations which offer about 1400 calories a day for each child and 2000 for adults.** We are storing enough food to cover our school population as it lingers over a 3 day period. Should you be unable to collect your child after an extended time you will live with much more confidence knowing that we have a survival ration of food we can give to your child. These food rations are Coast Guard approved. They are very similar to a cookie. They are made of flour, fat, sugar and a tiny bit of salt. They are made to be hypo-allergenic. For more information about the food ration you can contact Rochelle Long. What Do You Need From Me? We’ve tried to come up with a minimum donation needed to sustain the program. Instead of buying and sending comfort kits next year we will be asking for a $5 donation per child to cover the cost of keeping the supplies current. The $5 dollars will be spent each year as follows: $2 will be spent rotating food (It doesn’t last forever) $2 will be spent rotating other supplies that expire (first aid, sanitation, etc…) $1 will be spent encouraging training (Its not supplies that save you, its people). In an emergency, we have to share our supplies with all children. Wherever possible, we also need to share the costs. The $5 donation assumes a high level of participation. We all need to work together to keep our costs down. In addition to food and emergency supplies we are also stocking some activities and very small toys. At present we have drawing and writing materials. Over time we hope to build a collection of compact items. This spring we will have a tiny toy drive for small toys that could be used in an emergency or unused activity books, etc… Keep that in mind as you are picking through those McDonald’s toys. ;-)
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