Outreach | Portland Prepares

How to Organize a NET Fundraiser Event

by Katy Wolf | Jan 20, 2018 | Community Resilience, Outreach

Fundraisers are a great way to do outreach while making money for your Neighborhood Emergency Team’s (NET’s) supply cache. Since they’re open to the public, it’s a great opportunity to share some enthusiasm for emergency prep, even if people aren’t going to go all-in with NET training.

Recently, six NE Portland NETs had a great trivia fundraiser event at Lagunitas Community Room, where we had emergency prep trivia, food from La Sirenita, and lots of great drinks. We made $670, which will be split amongst the six NE NETs that participated. After the event, several people asked, “How did you do this?” and wanted to put on a similar fundraiser for their own NETs.

I also recently volunteered at another NE NET fundraiser at the Oregon Public House, which screened OPB’s Unprepared documentary and had a raffle. Based on these two experiences, I’ll summarize the process, share my thoughts, and offer some tips. Feel free to comment with your own experiences, and ask questions. If you’d like to get a copy of my trivia PowerPoint, email me at pdxboiseprepares@gmail.com.

Find a Planning Partner

It is extremely difficult to organize a successful event entirely by yourself, and why would you want to?

Find another NET member to partner with, and divvy up the tasks.
Find a Neighborhood Association or Coalition to take on administrative burdens like filling out event paperwork and paying fees.

Questions to Consider When Planning Your Event

Which NET team(s) will your event benefit? The more teams you get involved, the more volunteers you’ll have. The trade off is that the money will be more spread out, so each team will get less. Luckily, what I’ve seen is that even if the money is only going to certain NETs, you’ll still get volunteers from outside that area that just want to help out.
What entertainment and “draw” do you want to have? It’s easy to show a movie, but that can take up a lot of time and leave less time for education/outreach, networking, or other fun things. Also, everyone would have to arrive on time to see a movie. Don’t try to do too many things; it’s hard to manage and confusing for the guests. Try to focus on one thing, and do it well: trivia, a “Hecklevision” movie, a raffle, or a guest speaker.

Pick a Venue

Here are three non-profit event spaces that will donate a portion of sales or in-kind resources. Of course, you can always hold your event at any restaurant, bar, or other space that allows it. Note that if you bring your own food, someone in your group has to have an Oregon Food Handler Card.

1) Oregon Public House in the Woodlawn neighborhood of NE Portland

Your group could be the featured “Charity of the Day.” Or you could be one six featured nonprofit partners for a period of 5½ months. For each transaction during that time, customers select the nonprofit that they want to receive their proceeds.

Pros: Great food menu. Good kids play area. Drinks and food can be delivered to the Ballroom upstairs after being ordered at the Pub. OPH is amenable to having you run a raffle during your event, as long as your volunteers do the work and OPH staff don’t have to be part of it. Raffle tickets can either be separately purchased or in exchange for an amount customers have already spent on food/drinks (ask how much they spent, but expecting to see their receipt is not really realistic or polite).
Cons: Other people will be at the restaurant who may not be aware of your Charity of the Day event, so be cognizant not to impact their normal dining experience while also politely educating them about your fundraiser. The pub itself is not a good venue for doing announcements or running any entertainment; the Ballroom upstairs is better since it has a stage, A/V capabilities, and a large open space. However, to get upstairs to the Village Ballroom, you have to go outside – there’s no inside stairway for the public (only food runners). So if you use the Ballroom, factor in the inconvenience factor. The Ballroom does not have an ADA entrance.

2) Lagunitas Community Room in the Eliot neighborhood of NE Portland

Lagunitas will give you as much free beer as you need, wooden beer tokens, and two beertenders. You must provide the rest, including food. If you bring other donated cider or wine, they’ll serve that too.

Pros: The space comes with large long wooden tables, a lounge, and a projector, screen and sound mixer with a microphone. They have extra folding tables you can use for info booths and to set out food. A staff person will meet with you beforehand to coach you on how to organize your event successfully, and what paperwork you’ll need to complete.
Cons: You still have to recruit volunteers to staff the event, ask for donated food, wine and cider, not to mention any prizes you may use for a raffle or a winning trivia team. You have to bring the entertainment, since the space itself is just a shell. The projector screen is small and in the corner, so it’s not well suited to a movie screening. It works just well enough for trivia, if you’re not relying on it too much; people may have to get up and walk up to the screen if there’s a small image they need to see for a clue. Since you’ll likely be serving food, someone will have to get an Oregon Food Handler Card and supervise the food area. There’s no kids play area. And perhaps the biggest Con is the fees – it costs $150 just for the insurance endorsement, $50 for the OLCC, and $30 for the County food permit. Working with the OLCC and the County is the most confusing and time-consuming part of the event planning. For our event, Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods staff did this work and paid the fees.

3) Ex Novo in the Eliot neighborhood of North Portland

The entire brewery is a non-profit. They feature two local and two international charities at a time, all of which get an equal portion of the proceeds. The brewery has two dining areas; one of which is upstairs. I haven’t used them myself, so I sent them a request for more information; but after a week I haven’t heard back yet.

Pros: The food is good, although personally I think it can be a bit on the rich side (but you can get a pint of bacon strips for the table, which is pretty amazing).
Cons: It’s loud in the upstairs space, even if just one person is speaking. If you’re in the back, it’s sometimes hard to hear. A portable amp/speaker and microphone may be needed, if it’s allowed by the venue. The upstairs area’s capacity is only around 30. There’s no kids play area. It’s not a good venue for showing a movie, but it would work well for a guest speaker.

Recruit Volunteers

Based on your event plan, determine how many volunteers you’ll need and what roles they’ll have. Here are some suggestions.

Greeters (2): Welcome people, take donations, inform people of what to expect from the event, where to find things, etc.
Info Booth (2): Engage people by asking them questions, demonstrate emergency toilet set up, answer questions, offer brochures, etc.
Host/Emcee (1-2): Make announcements, thank sponsors, run trivia, etc.
Food Handlers, Bussers, Event Setup, Event Tear-Down (2-3 of each with a captain)

Use SignUp Genius or a Google Form or Google Spreadsheet to request volunteers. The free version of SignUp Genius won’t give you volunteer’s email addresses, so you’re forced to message them through the website itself. Then separately you’ll have to copy the information into a spreadsheet or Word file so you can print off the summary. It may be easier to just give out a Google Spreadsheet link and make the document public. Just make it easy to use (by formatting it well) and keep an eye on it in case someone accidentally messes it up.

Make sure the sign-up link gets shared widely:

1. Send it to Jeremy and Ernie so it gets into the NET and BEECN newsletters.
2. Send it out in your own NET’s newsletter.
3. Post it to the PortlandPrepares Facebook page and any other individual NET Facebook pages.
4. Repeat this until you’ve got all the volunteers you need.

Prizes

Having prizes is a good way to draw people to your event. They can be raffle prizes, door prizes (e.g.: The first 10 people in the door receive a utility shut-off tool), or trivia prizes. Our event at Lagunitas offered several trivia prizes.

Backpack Go-Kit – $0 (see photo)
Emergency Toilet Kit – $45 (see photo)

The buckets were free from Metro. Contact the Overlook NET if you’re interested in getting some. It’s not hard to find them from other sources.
I got the shredded paper free at work.
I decorated the bucket with caution tape and disaster sanitation messaging materials from www.EmergencyToilet.org.
I bought the toilet seat lids online for $10 each because they’re not carried at Lowe’s or Home Depot outside of camping season.
I bought TP, gloves, hand sanitizer, and some heavy-duty garbage bags.

Donation Requests

This might be the hardest part for some people. But some people love it. Try to find those people. You’re more likely to get donations if the person asking is enthusiastic, personable, and not apologetic. And when soliciting donations, offer recognition on your Facebook event page, at the event, etc. Some ideas for who to ask:

Lowe’s will likely give you a $25 gift card, which you can use by itself as a prize or buy some items for a kit. Contact a store manager to request a donation.
Oregon Emergency Management sent me the backpack go-kit (see above). It was mostly stuff I could have gotten myself and assembled, except maybe the water packets. Another option would be to use an old backpack (or one from Goodwill) and fill it with things from the Dollar Store or Costco.
Ask restaurants in your neighborhood. Make a flyer for your event well in advance so you can bring it with you when asking for donations.
Ask your network. People may have small things they don’t need or can get for free through work or other connections. Think about how to leverage your network and their assets.
Ask KBOO to sponsor your event: https://kboo.fm/event-co-sponsorship-request

Communicate Early and Often

With your partners. My planning team used email but also a shared Google Doc to communicate. The doc evolved from informal notes we took during our event space consultation to a final, formal plan. We wrote comments to each other using the @ symbol, so it would send an email to the person to let them know they needed to answer.

With your volunteers. Send them the flyer and ask them to share it with their networks. A couple days before the event, send them details on how the event will go so they know when to show up and what’s expected of them. It’s a good idea to have them wear NET ID and vests so they’re identifiable. Be sure to thank them for volunteering.

With your prospective attendees. Get them excited by posting pictures on your Facebook event page. This may be the difference in turning an “Interested” RSVP into a “Going” RSVP (and actually showing up). Give them details about what to expect for food, drinks, the event schedule, parking, and whatever else they might want to know.

Accepting Cash Donations

Fundraisers are even easier now. In addition to the NET info table materials, you can now check out a PayPal card reader which will accept donations into the Friend of Portland Fire & Rescue account. You’ll just need to tell the PBEM NET Admin, Glenn Devitt, which day your event is, so he can put the money into the right NET accounts.

Grants as a Funding Sources

These fundraising events are great because you can raise enough money for team cache supplies, and you’re free to spend the money how you like. Grants, however, come with strings attached. You have to show that you’re going to spend grant money on something that the grant committee values, which depends on the source. For neighborhood coalitions, it is often diversity and equity work. Buying medical supplies and a pop-up tent is not diversity and equity work. So when you apply for a grant, think of how your NET can benefit but also how you’ll make a winning proposal that the grant committee is going to score highly. This is probably a topic for a different blog post, so I’ll stop there.

Final Words

Bring extra batteries, printouts of your volunteer assignments and schedule, pens, and whatever else you may need in a pinch (duh, we know how to be prepared). Oh, and of course – HAVE FUN!!

Written by Katy Wolf
Team Leader, Boise/Eliot/Humboldt Neighborhood Emergency Team
Exercise & Training Coordinator, Portland Bureau of Emergency Management
pdxboiseprepares@gmail.com

Are Our K-12 Schools Ready for The Big One?

by Laura Hall | Jan 30, 2017 | Outreach, Schools

Picture this: A bookshelf packed with heavy materials located next to an exit, a large steel teacher’s desk on wheels that don’t lock sitting in the middle of a classroom, a tall filing cabinet next to student desks, folded cafeteria tables on wheels lining the walls of a gymnasium, a piano on wheels sitting in a hallway, lockers not attached to walls… Okay, now picture what happens when a 9.0 earthquake hits.

Yikes.

One of the questions I hear most frequently from my neighbors is: How are our schools preparing for a major earthquake? I can’t speak about private schools, but I can say that our public schools are doing the best they can with the resources they have – which is to say, not enough.

Portland Public Schools

Thanks to bond measures passed in 1995 and 2012, Portland Public Schools has completed seismic upgrades to many of their buildings. They also require schools to do earthquake drills twice a year, and some (but not all) schools have stockpiled emergency supplies and water. This is a good start, but it’s not enough to ensure all children’s safety during a massive earthquake.

Non-Structural Hazard Mitigation

Non-structural hazard mitigation encompasses many types of preparation, but the most relevant for this conversation is the securing of a building’s contents that could become hazardous during an earthquake – like that bookshelf by the only exit of a 1st grade classroom. Securing that bookshelf might be one of the best and easiest ways to prevent loss of life for those 1st graders.

As much as the hard-working folks at PPS would like to secure all of these hazardous items, they don’t have a budget for it. And it’s not because they don’t care. It’s because they’re faced with SO MANY other urgent issues and an incredibly restrictive budget. And because by and large, people don’t voice their concerns to administrators and elected officials about this topic.

Okay, political rant complete. Besides allocating more money, what can we do?

Parents4Preparedness

Parents, teachers, and administrators are working together to find creative solutions. The group Parents4Preparedness (P4P) was formed in 2015 by a group of concerned parents. They meet every two months during the school year to advocate for sufficient earthquake preparedness resources, promote best practices, and share information to improve the resiliency of Oregon’s schools.

These are parents who have had some successes (strapping furniture, leading parent/child reunification drills, etc.) who are trying to reach out to other parents to share what they’ve learned. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as buying some brackets and “getting someone to do it.” There are liability issues to consider. There are schedules to consider. There are busy, busy teachers to consider. There are 100+ year old buildings with lead paint and weird materials in the walls to consider. And there are very serious equity issues to consider.

Mercy Corps Information Campaign

One of P4P’s co-facilitators, Susan Romanski, is the US Director for Disaster Preparedness & Community Resilience for Mercy Corps. Now through the end of the 2016-2017 school year, Susan is offering to do 90-minute earthquake preparedness presentations and facilitated discussions for PPS schools that request it. She’ll cover basic steps to prepare families, communities, and schools for a Cascadia event. Her presentations can be offered in English or Spanish. Here’s the catch – a parent (or group of parents) has to take this on. They need to organize the event, publicize it, and work with the school’s administration to make it happen. Parents interested in arranging a presentation at their school should carefully read this flyer.

Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) member participation is welcome and encouraged at these events. Once an event is scheduled, the NET Team Leader in that neighborhood will be contacted, and the TL can attend the event or find someone else on the team to do it. The NET can introduce themself, share their NET experience/activities, or simply explain what NET is. This can create a bridge between the parents and the NET.

2017 Bond Proposal

Work is currently being done on a new PPS Health, Safety, and Modernization Bond proposal for May 2017. This bond is our only hope for funds that will continue to make schools safer for the next 6-8+ years. There are no other options for capital funds in the amounts needed – not from the City of Portland, the State of Oregon, or FEMA. We must persuade our friends and neighbors that these investments in safety make sense.

The first meeting with opportunity for public testimony is from 6:30-8pm on Thursday, February 2 at Madison High School. There will also be a School Board meeting on February 6 and additional town halls on February 7, 8, and 9. See the district’s bond website for details and complete this very brief online survey before February 10th.

Help Us Get the Word Out

Your help is needed in getting the word out about P4P, the Mercy Corps presentations, and the 2017 bond. We especially need to make sure that parents in underrepresented communities hear about this. So please, spread this far and wide. I know parents are overwhelmed with other issues, but this is an issue that threatens thousands of children’s lives.

Written by Laura Hall, Assistant Team Leader, Arbor Lodge / Kenton NET, ArborLodgePrepares@gmail.com
(Thanks to Ted Wolf for contributing. Ted is advocating on behalf of P4P on the 2017 bond proposal.)

Integrating NETs with Neighborhood Associations

by Glenn Devitt | Sep 28, 2016 | Business Community, Outreach

In Portland’s Sunnyside neighborhood – and in other neighborhoods – we’ve collaborated with a supportive Neighborhood Association (NA), and it has been extremely productive and mutually rewarding. We offer a summary of our experience hoping that it will be useful to other Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NETs).

SUNNYSIDE’S RESULTS:

In a little over a year, more than 200 non-NET neighbors have joined our email list, and hundreds more have attended meetings or outreach events. Some do not have the time or desire to get NET Basic Training, and others are satisfied preparing “only” their block using Map Your Neighborhood. That’s fine. We want all of these people to be aware of each other and to share training resources. And we want to meet them before an emergency occurs.
Each neighbor with an emergency kit makes for one less household you’ll need to worry about in an emergency – plus, they might be able to help as a Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteer (SUV) or Affiliated Trained Volunteer (ATV).
We have supported several block parties/meetings where neighbors meet and create a plan for their micro-neighborhood.
We are integrating with our NA’s Crime Prevention Committee, and the Office of Neighborhood Involvement’s Neighborhood Watch program. It’s a no-brainer: recruit civic-minded people wherever possible.

HOW:

The “Sunnyside Prepared” committee was founded to recognize the need to work with everyone in the community who is interested in preparedness, not only NETs. Sunnyside has 6,000+ residents and fewer than 20 NETs. We need all hands on deck. The committee was proposed to and approved by our Neighborhood Association, who recognize the value in supporting this work. We proposed an itemized budget, and the NA board happily approved it out of their funds.

We also segment our monthly meetings into general “emergency prep” and NET portions. Everyone is welcome to attend all, unless we plan to discuss confidential information only approved for NETs.

PROS:

There are so many reasons to do this!

Fundraising

As you may already know, PBEM/NET enables teams to accept tax-deductible donations through the Friends of Portland Fire & Rescue for equipment cache and supplies (see NET Guidelines doc for details). We cannot raise money through NAs due to their legal structure – BUT we can request money directly from NAs for other costs like printing and postage, tabling supplies, and giveaways. So:

Mo’ Money

Request a budget from your NA! We are aware of teams receiving $250 – $1,500 annually. Keep a keen eye on your accounting and use money strictly for its approved purposes; it is very important to keep your Friends of Portland Fire & Rescue and NA accounts and ledgers separate. And proactively report to your NA how its funding improved your outreach and performance. How many people attended events? How many brochures were distributed? Also account for in-kind costs you do not incur but which support your work, e.g. materials from PBEM. Your NA needs to understand the total return on its investment.

Public Outreach

You will reach a much wider audience through your NA’s calendar and newsletter, as well as NextDoor.com. Your NA probably gets a booth at local street fairs at no cost. Ask to use/share it.

School Outreach

With official recognition by your NA, school administrators will be more likely to welcome your collaboration. Mention that NETs are background-checked by PBEM; of course, school staff do not allow strangers to wander school grounds. PPS has its own background check process that they may ask you to complete.

Business Outreach

As a public agency, PBEM cannot support any activity that might be perceived as endorsing a business. However NAs can, and their endorsement legitimizes your outreach to local businesses. See the PortlandPrepares.org article NET + Business Partnership = Win Win Win. We are considering a window-sticker campaign to “brand” our neighborhood businesses for emergency preparedness.

Website

Your NA might be able to give you a page on their site at no cost (like SunnysidePrepared.com) or at least a link to your team’s page on PortlandPrepares.com.

City Discounts

Committees of NAs may place orders through the City’s Printing & Distribution office (SW 2nd & Main), whose rates are usually better than retail. Plus, with pre-approval for each order, they bill the NA directly so you don’t need to go out-of-pocket.

Satisfaction

Once you get going, you will become one of your NA’s most productive and active committees. And that leads to more support and mutual reward.

CONS:

Neighborhood Association boards change. Ours is amazingly cooperative, though we’ve heard about contentious NAs in other parts of the city. Establish your committee outside the politics of other issues and be sure to report about the value you’re contributing. That should help ensure that your NA’s support will endure.
At some meetings you will be mingling trained NETs with the general public, so balance NET exercises with an increase in outreach to people just beginning their personal emergency preparedness.
Consider appointing an ATL to primarily handle outreach and ensure that you don’t neglect your other TL duties. To explore this, we plan to test separating our monthly public meetings with separate quarterly NET exercises.

We hope our experience will be useful to you. PLEASE, share your experiences with us. We would like to revise this piece in the future to incorporate great ideas that other teams share.

Glenn C. Devitt, Sunnyside Team Lead, Sunnyside Prepared Co-Chair, Friends of Portland NET co-founder, glenn@sunnysideprepared.com, 503.345.4321

Jan Molinaro, Sunnyside Assistant Team Lead, Sunnyside Prepared Co-Chair, jan@sunnysideprepared.com

Start Saying Hello

by Laura Hall | Sep 2, 2016 | Map Your Neighborhood, Outreach

How many of you live within walking distance of your friends and family? Probably not many. When the Cascadia quake hits, there will be no more internet, cell phones, or visits to friends across town. Your radius will shrink. The people in your world will be those who are actually right there near you. And there’s a good chance it will happen when you’re at home.

WHO WILL COME TO YOUR AID?

Government assistance may take weeks to arrive. Our immediate survival and long-term comfort in a disaster can depend on our connections. If your loved ones are unable to help and you don’t know your neighbors,

Who will come get you out of your collapsed house?

Who will know to look for your children or pets?

Who will put out the fire if you are not there?

Who will you band together with to share skills and supplies?

DISASTERS CREATE COMMUNITY

From that first rescue to the procuring of water, food, and medicine, we will all likely need some help. When we trade help with those near to us, we will create new close bonds based on real human needs and personal contact. We will come to know who we can trust. People will be forced to cooperate when services and supply streams fail.

BEFORE A DISASTER FORCES IT

While disasters will create communities out of necessity, having strong communities in place before a disaster is far more effective. So how can we build a sustainable community that looks out for its members? How can we function like a tribe, with personal accountability and respect? The tribes that we create around sports teams or musical preferences may be useless in the face of real adversity, but good relations with our close neighbors could save our lives.

Many of us are not comfortable knocking on doors and introducing ourselves to neighbors. We’ve become accustomed to building social bubbles and respecting others’ bubbles to the point of not knowing the person living next door. Inviting neighbors to a Map Your Neighborhood party is a good way to break the ice. You can convene around the topic of neighborhood earthquake planning and get to know each other personally in the process.

Make it a potluck – everyone loves food!
Do it in August – the City of Portland waives block-party fees in celebration of National Night Out (check out their great Game Ideas).
Don’t forget to emphasize the fact that if nothing else, everyone should be stockpiling water.

THE INTERNET CAN HELP

Social media can aid us in getting to know our neighbors. There are a number of platforms that seek to bring people together locally to convene around various topics or exchanges. Among others, NextDoor and Buy Nothing are active in Portland and worth considering.

NextDoor.com seeks to build stronger and safer neighborhoods by providing a space for people to do things like: spread the word about a stolen car, organize a Neighborhood Watch Group, find a trustworthy babysitter, ask neighbors to keep an eye out for a lost dog, find a new home for an outgrown bike, or advertise a Neighborhood Emergency Team meeting. These online interactions often lead to in-person community building.
The Buy Nothing Project on Facebook allows people to share good, skills, and knowledge in a format that values human connection above all else. The project’s values state, “We believe our hyper-local groups strengthen the social fabric of their communities, and ensure the health and vitality of each member… We measure wealth by the personal connections made and trust between people.”

GO SHAKE SOME HANDS

Nothing can beat chatting with your neighbors on a regular basis. Make a point of waving and saying hello more. Make an opportunity to talk to the senior across the street about her garden. Make a double batch of muffins and go chat with the family next door.

It behooves us to prioritize people in a face-to-face way. Our most important preparedness (and happiness) goal may be to build close-proximity relationships. Long distance doesn’t help when you’re trapped under debris.

–Written by Laura Hall and Teresa Gryder

How to Rock a NET Booth

by Laura Hall | Jun 22, 2016 | Outreach

Sunday Parkways, Farmers Markets, National Night Out, Movies in the Park… It’s summer, which means it’s outreach season for Neighborhood Emergency Teams. Outreach is an incredibly important part of what NETs do. After all, we can’t help everyone, so we need to help our neighbors prepare themselves.

At the last Arbor Lodge / Kenton NET meeting, one of our talented team members (Angela Watson) presented us with this great list of tips for how to interact with the public when staffing an outreach booth.

WHY VOLUNTEER TO STAFF A BOOTH?

Help your community become better prepared for a disaster and more resilient.
Help NET by raising awareness of what NET is, recruiting new NETs, and getting donations.
Help yourself by making new connections and earning NET hours.

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO AS A BOOTH VOLUNTEER?

Wear your NET vest, badge, and hardhat so you’re easily recognizable as a NET member.
Be there for your entire shift and ensure a good hand off to the next shift.
Be visible and welcoming without being pushy.
Speak positively about PBEM and the NET program.

HOW DO I GET PEOPLE TO COME TO THE BOOTH, AND WHAT SHOULD I SAY?

Draw people in with eye contact, body language, and simple questions.
Example: “Do you live in this neighborhood?”
- If YES: Point to Hazards Map and ask “Whereabouts?” and discuss nearby hazards.
- If NO: Ask “which neighborhood are you in?” and “Did you know you have a NET team?”
Tailor the conversation to your audience.
- Do they have kids? (Discuss how their school is preparing kids and the importance of creating and practicing a family emergency plan.)
- Do they have pets? (Remind them to include pet items in kit.)
- Do they work in a different neighborhood? (Talk about importance of having a go kit and having a plan to get home. Discuss the NET team or BEECN site nearest their office.)
- Are they already a prepper or NET member? (Awesome – encourage them to get more involved in NET or start engaging with their neighbors! But avoid getting sucked into non-productive conversations that might pull you away from other folks.)
- Are they in denial about “the Big One?” (Say “It’s possible it won’t happen in our lifetime – but if you’re prepared for a subduction zone earthquake, you’re prepared for almost anything! And if it does happen in our lifetime, you’ll certainly be glad you prepared.)
Share a personal story – Why is preparedness important to you? Were you involved in a previous disaster? What inspired you to join NET?
Recognize that getting prepared can be emotionally and financially overwhelming.
- Remind them that it’s a process and they don’t have to do everything at once.
- Recommend starting with ONE easy, achievable thing like water storage (1 gallon per person per day).
- If cost is a concern, remind them that they probably already have many items in their home or garage. Share tips for finding supplies at a discount or making your own.
Don’t be afraid to be a little bit crazy! (Wear a Utili-Kilt, wear a sandwich board, sing a song?!)

COMING SOON: PREPARATION, SETUP, & TEAR DOWN

Stay tuned! We’re working on a generic checklist for outreach booth logistics. It will include tips for:

Planning your outreach schedule for the year
Reserving booth space
Reserving PBEM/NET materials
Securing raffle donations
Recruiting volunteers
Setting up a booth (including a diagram)
Tearing down a booth

We’re also working on a quick reference cheat sheet for volunteers that includes, helpful links, a map of NET teams, NET team lead contact info, a list of places to get water jugs and other supplies, and talking points.

–Laura Hall, Arbor Lodge / Kenton NET Assistant Team Leader, arborlodgeprepares@gmail.com

NET + Business Partnership = Win Win Win

by Laura Hall | May 20, 2016 | Business Community, Outreach

The Arbor Lodge / Kenton Neighborhood Emergency Team recently staffed a booth at the Kenton Street Fair. Our neighborhood Lowes in Hayden Island donated a bucket full of preparedness supplies, which we used as a raffle prize. It was a dreary, rainy day in mid-May, but our booth had a steady stream of visitors. At $1 a pop, we raised $60 for our team, which we’ll use for medical supplies to put in our team cache.

We All Win: The NET Program got attention, lives may be saved by those medical supplies, and Lowes got free advertising at our event. They also showed us that they care about the safety and wellbeing of our community.

Business partnership is something all NET and CERT teams should be thinking about. While the City of Portland funds the coordination of the NET Program, we are, in the end, non-funded neighborhood groups with a critical need for supplies and other support.

WAYS BUSINESSES CAN HELP

There are so many ways a business can help. Depending on the type of business, size, and structure, some ways will make more sense than other ways. When talking to businesses, it’s probably best just to focus on a few of these ideas instead of overwhelming them with the whole list.

In Kind Donations

Hardware stores, grocery stores, camping supply stores, army supply stores, kitchen supply stores… heck, almost any kind of store can make an in-kind donation (aka supplies). Recently the St. Johns NET Team Lead received donations from St. Johns ACE Hardware, which they raffled off at the St. Johns Bizarre.

Cash (of Course)

In addition to one-time, lump-sum contributions, there are also models of businesses donating cash on an ongoing basis via rewards programs. Fred Meyer’s Community Rewards Program allows shoppers to connect their Rewards Card to a NET team, which will in turn receive cash donations each month based on how much shoppers spent.

Did you know? Donations are tax deductible. We are a 501c3 organization.

Staging Area / Shelter Space

NETs are making plans for team mobilization in the event of an earthquake. Ideally, they will use a field or other open space as a staging area for their operations. But if it’s cold and rainy out, they could really use a large indoor meeting space. Businesses with a large, modern building could allow NETs to use it as a staging area or shelter after an earthquake. Identifying these types of buildings ahead of time will help immensely.

Meeting Space

My favorite neighborhood restaurant, New American, has allowed the Overlook NET to hold team meetings in their space. Delicious local food and earthquake preparedness, together at last!

Storage Space

Many NETs are assembling supply caches, and they need somewhere to store those materials. A shed, a warehouse, a shipping container – you name it.

Promotion

Our team is talking to our local Lowes store manager about the possibility of having a NET-themed display at the end of an aisle. But it could be as simple as a flyer hung on the door of neighborhood stores.

NET Participation

New Seasons Market takes safety and community seriously. That’s why they’re encouraging employees to ready themselves for an earthquake. They’re also working to get a few employees from each of their stores to complete NET training and get involved with local teams. Just imagine if all of our grocers did the same! Good for the business, good for the community.

Preparation

Businesses can help our efforts by helping themselves. They need to educate and train employees, consider hazards in their work space, and plan for continuity of business. The NET Program is working on a way to provide support in this planning. In the meantime, resources such as Open for Business and Prepare My Business have helpful handouts and other resources.

ANYONE CAN DO IT

You may be thinking: “I don’t know how to solicit donations!” In the case of Lowes donating a bucket full of supplies, it was as easy as one of our team members walking in the store and talking to a manager about the work we do. You’d be surprised how willing most businesses are to contribute. Sometimes all you have to do is ask!

You may also be thinking: “I don’t know anything about business preparedness!” South Burlingame NET has prepared a terrific form that you can use to open a conversation with a neighborhood business.

You don’t have to be a NET member and you don’t have to be a preparedness expert to talk to neighborhood businesses.

Just tell them that you’re a concerned community member and that you can put them in touch with the Team Leader for your neighborhood’s team. They can also complete our online donation form or contact form, which will be routed to the appropriate person.