One of the hardest things about the pandemic was having to postpone our annual MWJN Potluck in the Park! We’re were feeling reasonably confident that by June of 2022 we would be able to safely gather and share food. There is still some COVID hesitancy and other logistical hurdles so we have once again postponed. We’re all disappointed, but hope we can do this before another year slips by. We will announce the new date as soon as we can so we all can have something to look forward to.
Practice using FRS radios to communicate with others in our blocks and with other blocks
Practice problem solving to address incidents caused by a major earthquake
Attend a Debrief at the end of the drill to compare notes, discover correct answers, meet neighbors and eat pizza
We will also be practicing using our FRS radios (walkie-talkies). Our initial check-ins from our homes will be similar to what we’ve been practicing in our Sunday evening radio practices. As we walk our blocks we will use one channel to communicate between the walking team and the team at the Gathering Site. A separate channel will be reserved to communicate with the staging manager for the whole neighborhood.
Our response is to Drop Cover and Hold on and to practice what we’ve learned in our Map Your Neighborhood program. We will not be coordinating with CERT this time. We will follow our 9 Steps and go to our gathering sites to form teams. The teams will assess the blocks by looking for special yellow Drill Incident Cards. We will not be seeing bloodied bodies or hauling people in stretchers. This will be more of a “Thought Exercise” focusing on decision making utilizing the resources we know we have in our blocks (found in our Contact Lists and Skills and Equipment Inventories)
CERT- MYN DRILL 2019
This is a covid compliant event and masks are requested even if you’re fully vaccinated.
This year the event started by the late great Bill Hopkins will be a Live Virtual Event! Held on valleydisasterfair.com. Registration is required and a limited number of advance registrants will be eligible to win a disaster kit. Hear special guest speakers and see safety demonstrations. Featuring all kinds of Emergency and First Aid Info including Pet Preparedness. And, it’s all free!
Starter Disaster Kits – photo by Bernard Falkin
The free annual Valley Disaster Preparedness Fair, largest of its kind in Los Angeles, is managed and produced by the Foundation as a whole community event to help bring information, knowledge, and awareness to being better prepared for large-scale emergencies and disasters. The 13th annual Fair will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2020 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Northridge Fashion Center’s Pacific Theaters parking lot (9400 Shirley Ave.). Each year, 1,950 substantial Family Emergency Preparedness (EP) Starter Kits are distributed free to attending registered families. For more information about the Fair, including a 15-minute video, visit www.ValleyDisasterFair.com.
Bill Hopkins was the President, Director, and Founder of the Southern California Preparedness Foundation, which hosts this event and was a strong supporter of disaster and emergency preparedness. He served as a community-elected member of the Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council (GHNNC), founded and chaired the GHNNC Emergency Preparedness Committee, and was Vice-Chair of its Public Safety Committee. Bill was the principal key to the success of previous annual Valley Disaster Preparedness Fairs.
