Not for another 3 months... quarterly Enrichment

On Thursday night we had our quarterly Enrichment meeting "Be Prepared". I didn't get to choose the topic and I admit I wasn't too excited when I was given the assignment. How many women get excited about going to an activity all about food storage, emergency preparedness, 72 hour kits, etc? Well, I know one, but she is NOT normal (Britney you know who I am talking about!)

We advertised the night with a big poster that looked like a newspaper. It predicted a big storm on the night of June 28th. We told everyone to bring their packs and be warned that a storm was approaching, etc. etc. We said you will definitely want a flashlight and a warm jacket.



Anyway, we did the best we could to make it fun, unpredictable, and worth the time for those who attended. We started out at Debbie's house (up the street from me). She had a huge display of emergency and food storage items out when we arrived. We had a bunch of prizes to give out through the night so anyone who even walked in the door got a raffle ticket for the drawing. If they brought their 72 hour pack with them, they got another. We had an 'emergency' wordsearch for them to start (while awaiting the latecomers) and the first one to finish won another ticket. So quickly everyone got the idea that they would increase their chances by participating and getting into the activities for the night. We went over some basic emergency info, possible scenarios, items that people forget in their 72 hour packs, etc. We had a 6 page packet of info with all of this plus recommended websites, books,etc on the subject. I went over the 7 common mistakes of food storage, then we played a game where people had to try and guess how much food was needed for one family's year supply, ie pounds of flour, gallons of water, etc. The team who won got another ticket in the raffle. The last thing was a girl from our ward demonstrated how to dehydrate your own fruit. It was really interesting. She does it and puts it into her food storage and into their 72 hour packs- it keeps forever and it's so healthy. She was just finishing when suddenly the lights went out. We had strategically lit candles ahead of time so it wasn't pitch black. Everyone started laughing and just then there was a banging on the door and Debbie's husband Mike came in, dressed in a fireman's suit complete with a face mask, ordering an evacuation because the flood waters were coming in too close.



(Here are some of the ladies during the game. The one with the glasses is Bronwyn, the RS President)

So we all filed out as Mike was counting heads and doing the whole bit, it was funny. We walked down to my house, the "temporary emergency facility" and made hot chocolate on the BBQ and portable camp burners. We ate some no-bake treats and sat in candlelight (since the electricity was supposed to be out) on blankets on my back porch. Everyone was really good about it and laughed and had a good time sitting around chatting and then telling stories about when the power is out, etc. We didn't stay there long when Debbie said that there were some injuries among us and we needed to go to the Medical Center next door (Elise's house).



So we all went over to Elise's which was warm and heated. I have to say, we've been having real winter weather on the Gold Coast so I think it made us all realize we needed to put warmer stuff in our packs! We all sat down in there and Debbie explained that a member of each group (she put us into 4 teams) was hurt and the team had to figure out how to treat each injury. The first team to finish all got more raffle tickets. I was one of the injured people and we had to do a snake bite (this is Queensland, after all), a broken arm, a cut on the ankle, and a spider bite. Some people thought you still had to suck the poison out and put on a tourniquet. I guess it's good we did this lesson! When everyone was done we went over the correct procedures then did the drawings for prizes. I was glad to see people really excited to win them! The three big ones were: a first aid kit, a 72 hour meal pack, and 'Survival in a Bottle' which is a large water bottle with 5 items inside it (compass, mirror, poncho, blanket, whistle). We also gave away small food items to add to 72 hour packs like boxes of nuts, granola bars, individual soups and hot chocolate, etc. Our budget for the whole night was only about $100 so we had to be creative. If we'd had a bigger budget, I would have done 'Survival in a Bottle' for everyone. I love the idea of it. My friend saw it at the camping store (like REI) and told me about it, so we just copied it.



We ended the night with a challenge to everyone- every Sunday between now and our next Enrichment, we will have a jar on a table in the foyer at church and in Relief Society. If they add an item to their food storage or 72 hour pack that week, they write their name on a paper and what they bought and put it in the jar. At our next quarterly Enrichment, there will be a drawing for a gift certificate to an outdoor/camping store. So hopefully they will be inspired and want to increase their chances by adding something each week. We're going on the 'line upon line' concept here since many of us feel overwhelmed with food storage and emergency preparedness. I know I do! This has been a good lesson for me- isn't that always how callings in the church work? It is often an area that YOU need to improve upon yourself that you get called to teach or lead.