We are at the end of another National Preparedness Month and 30 Days, 30 Ways Challenge.  We hope everyone who played, watched, and lurked throughout the month gained something from the challenge.  As we mentioned at the beginning of the month, we created this challenge in hopes of changing behaviors about being prepared for emergencies.    We hope just because the month is over, your desire to be prepared is just getting started.  

Look for a new twist to 30 Days, 30 Ways for 2017 coming in December!!  We cannot to wait to share a new twist on the challenge.

As we say good bye for another year, We want to say thank you to everyone who took the challenge.  From those that this was your first year, to those that have been with us since the beginning, we cannot say THANK YOU enough!!

DAY 30 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –    Each Year we try to mix it up and keep it fresh… what is something we didn’t cover this year that you believe is important and want to share with other?

Bonus:  Create a task around the topic we didn’t cover.  Who know’s you may be part of our Challenge next year!!

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

You Have until MIDNIGHT on September 30th to complete this task. Contest rules and more information on the #30Days30WaysChallenge  can be found here:

Note:  If you are receiving this via email, go to www.30days30ways.com to answer

When I chat to folks about what to have in their preparedness kit, I always mention the importance of trying or being familiar with the items in your emergency kit ahead of time.  Nothing is worse than being in the middle of a disaster and you are looking for the instructions in how to assemble something for your safety, or your stuck eating something from your kit that tastes like cardboard and makes you sick.

We all have items that we like and don’t like when it comes to food items.  President Reagan was well known for his love of jelly beans, and President H.W. Bush was just as well known for his dislike of broccoli.

Having some of those comfort items around during an emergency can make all the difference in the world and keep your mental outlook with a positive focus when you need it most.

DAY 29 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –  Share with us what your comfort item or food is… How much do you keep on hand?  Do you have enough to get you through 3 days? 7 Days? 10 Days? More??

Bonus:  What type of shelf life does your comfort item have?  Can and do you keep alternative versions of your favorite available?

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

You Have until MIDNIGHT on September 30th to complete this task. Contest rules and more information on the #30Days30WaysChallenge  can be found here:

Note:  If you are receiving this via email, go to www.30days30ways.com to answer

Today happens to be National Good Neighbor Day.  We just couldn’t pass up up the opportunity to tie that in with this years challenge.  When we talk preparedness, after the kit, and after the plan, comes “get involved.”   To us that means getting to know your neighbors. It means checking on your neighbors. It means becoming a neighborhood.  It means bringing neighbors together for programs like Map Your Neighborhood or even CERT training. And today that starts with introducing yourself to neighbors.

DAY 28 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –  Do you know your neighbors?  We want you to reach out to at least one of your neighbors you do not currently know.  Introduce yourself and well… “Be a good neighbor.”

Bonus:  Get together with your neighbors and Map Your Neighborhood.  Although there are only a couple days left in the month to get this done, we want your commitment. Commit with us to invite at least 2 neighbors over and start a conversation about being prepared for emergencies.

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

Sometimes it’s early, sometimes later in the month, however today is a task that has somehow been included in every year of 30 Days, 30 Ways.  Today we want you to practice that Fire Drill!!  Today we want to focus on not only the fire drill, but where you meet-up also.

Knowing what to do, and how to get out of a building if on fire is something we all need to know.  As kids we all participated in fire drills, but do we still practice those as a family?   And what if the nearest exit is blocked or unsafe to exit?  Do you know alternative routes out of your home if the need arises?  Today we want to test your fire safety knowledge, and have you share with others.

DAY 26 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –  Make a video of your family conducting a fire drill and/or meeting at their safe meet-up location.  Be Sure to include something with #30Days30Ways in the picture or video.

Bonus:  Share a video testing your smoke alarms or share a video about you know a door is safe to open.

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

You Have until MIDNIGHT on September 30th to complete this task. Contest rules and more information on the #30Days30WaysChallenge  can be found here:

Note:  If you are receiving this via email, go to www.30days30ways.com to answer

If you think back to any type of apocalyptic future set movie you have ever watched, you may remember that currency, as we know it today, never seems to be what is being used then.  We talk about having a reserve of money in case of an emergency, since banks, ATM’s most likely will not be open if power and systems are down.   Having something extra to “trade” or ‘barter” could become important if systems we know are out for extensive periods of time. Today we want you to focus on what items or service you may have available if needed that you could exchange for items you may need.

DAY 27 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –  Today we want you to share what items you may have to barter or service you could provide in exchange for items you may need in an emergency.  Share also how you put a value on them.

Bonus:  Put your bartering into action… we want to see you barter for something useful for your emergency kit!  Share you trade with us.

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

You Have until MIDNIGHT on September 30th to complete this task. Contest rules and more information on the #30Days30WaysChallenge  can be found here:

Note:  If you are receiving this via email, go to www.30days30ways.com to answer

                                                                   A couple years ago my sister had a house fire.  Although as a firefighter, I had shared resources to individuals about where to start after such an event, I had never witnessed the headache and heartache survivors go through after suffering such events.  We learned as much as we thought we were prepared, had things in order, we were not ready for all the hoops required to make sure you could get the help needed. We had to quickly understand the difference between temporary and permanent replacement.   We also learned that we underestimated the actual replacement value of items we have in our homes.  Booklets like the Red Guide to Recovery Website  are great resources and provide checklists of the things you need to video/record in advance of disaster for insurance purposes and faster recovery.

DAY 25 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –   Today we want you to use the Red Guide to Recovery Website Free Recovery Tools to double check your readiness if a disaster or emergency.  We want you to complete the Personal Property Inventory “Memory Jogger.”  Share with us what you discovered about if after completing you think you have enough insurance.

Bonus: We encourage you to complete a couple of the other “tools provided.  Share with us what other items you completed and any lessons you learned.

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

You Have until MIDNIGHT on September 30th to complete this task. Contest rules and more information on the #30Days30WaysChallenge  can be found here:

Note:  If you are receiving this via email, go to www.30days30ways.com to answer

Disasters don’t just show up when we are ready.  In most cases they seem to hit us at those moments when we are the least prepared.  We talk a lot about having an emergency kit for your home, car and workplace, but what happens if the emergency happens while you are sleeping? Could you navigate in the dead of night, in darkness, debris and shards of glass in your way to safely get out of your home?  Would you be injured by that debris or glass before you got out?  Today we want to focus on being prepared… while you are in bed!!

DAY 24 ACTIVITY:  

2 Pts –  Show us how you are prepared for an emergency, if it happened while you were sleeping.  What do you keep near your bed?

Bonus:  Collect locations in your area of possible locations you can stay if evacuated.  Where would you go?

LETS START A CONVERSATION!  Add the following “Twibbon” to your Facebook, or Twitter Profile Picture!!  Thanks to our friends at Sacramento County Office  Emergency Services, with a couple clicks you can show your support for National Preparedness Month!!  Click the picture to add the Twibbon to your accounts!!

PROOF OF COMPLETION:  There are 4 ways you can complete this task:

1. Leave a comment with your answer in it on our blog below
2. Email us at info@30Days30ways.com
3. Put your answer on our Facebook Fan Page or
4. Provide the answer on Twitter (Please include @30Days_30ways or hashtag #30Days30Ways in any tweets.

You Have until MIDNIGHT on September 30th to complete this task. Contest rules and more information on the #30Days30WaysChallenge  can be found here:

Note:  If you are receiving this via email, go to www.30days30ways.com to answer