Get prepared: Neighborhood

Neighborhood champions - Paula

Terra note: again I was confused about which assignment I had. Here are some ideas, Paula. Edit or just throw them away.
I’m Ready, But My Neighbors Aren’t. What Now? Step up as a Neighborhood Champion.

You already know disaster preparedness is smart. Your household is stocked with food, water, medical supplies, shelter, and communication tools. You’ve even arranged backup care for kids or pets if you’re stuck off-island. But what happens when you realize your neighbors aren’t as ready? In a crisis, will they be knocking at your door?

The truth is, individual preparedness is step one—it ensures we’re not a burden on others. But survival and recovery depend on more than supplies. They depend on connections. Neighborhoods are where resilience happens. That’s where you come in.

A Champion is someone who sparks preparedness in their neighborhood. Call yourself a lead, captain, coordinator, or organizer—it doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re advocating, encouraging, and inspiring others to get ready together.

Start simple: host a gathering and see what energy emerges. With a partner or two, you can show how preparedness is just common sense—like having house, auto, or health insurance. And frankly, it’s a lot more fun when you do it as a community.

We recommend neighborhoods of about 20 or fewer households. If you’re part of a water district or HOA, you’ve already got a built-in network. Use it.

You don’t have to figure it all out alone. We have some resources below to get you started. And you won’t be doing this in isolation—Champions gather monthly to share ideas, solve problems, and keep the momentum going. Email southwhidbeyprepares@whidbey.com to get meeting announcements and updates on new resources to share with your neighborhood.

Together, we can prepare, connect, and thrive—one neighborhood at a time.

Resources:

  • ·      Tri-fold

  • ·      Sample agenda for meeting

  • ·      NPR article

  • ·      Scott’s video

  • ·      Scott’s book ( think this should be on the basic preparation page as well)

  • ·      10-step plan

  • ·      Perhaps the questions to think about?

This is what Paula wrote

Thank you for considering signing up to be your neighborhood champion.

A Champion is someone who sparks preparedness in their neighborhood. You might call yourself a lead, captain, director, coordinator or organizer. You might have a whole team of folks helping you with the organizing. We call you a champion because you are advocating and encouraging – in other words championing – the wisdom of preparing ourselves to survive and thrive after natural disasters and to be resilient.

Everyone is different, so plan your own path. Once you are ready, go to the Neighborhood Plan page and begin.

Let us know you are on board by emailing southwhidbeyprepares@whidbey.com

Get inspired at our monthly champion meetings.

Plan to attend our monthly meetings and be inspired by other champions and problem solve as a community. Email southwhidbeyprepares@whidbey.com  to receive those meeting announcements. We will also advise you of new resources and information you will want to share with your neighborhood.

Register your neighborhood

Once you have your neighbors’ enthusiastic support for getting prepared, please be sure to register your neighborhood with the county. This enables us to track how much of South Whidbey is working to be prepared and resilient and where we need to conduct some outreach.