Community invited to 'Living Ready' preparedness fair

Ronda Bowser demonstrates the agility course with her search dog, Pandora, during the 2012 'Living Ready' preparedness fair.
 
Some challenges in life impact the whole community like the wildfires last summer that threatened homes and businesses, while others are individual such as unemployment or health problems. ‘Living Ready’ can help in facing and overcoming these parts of the human experience.

Orofino Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inviting people of the community and surrounding area to 'Living Ready', a preparedness fair Saturday, May 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at their meetinghouse, 13610 Fremont Ave.

Living Ready is not about fear or panic; it is about learning to take care of what is important-loved ones. It is about learning to be smart, savvy and resilient when facing challenges. Today's world presents lots of challenges from medical emergencies to flooding, landslides and other events that impact the whole community. People can prepare to meet those challenges and better 'weather the storm'.

The fair will have numerous booths, demonstrations and presenters that can answer questions about how to prepare and be ready when facing challenges in life. Some might call it provident living.

Among topics for the fair are:

Canning, preserving and storing food

Sprouting, dehydrating and freeze dried foods

Gardening

Herbs and health foods

Edible landscaping

Medical basics

Legal document preservation

Alternative cooking

Water storage and purification

72-hour kits

Household ingenuity

Sanitation

Family history & genealogy

Adult education

Emergency shelter

There will also be displays by a variety of emergency responders and community resources such as:

Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office

Orofino Police Department

Clearwater County Ambulance Service

Orofino Fire Department

Red Cross

Northwest MedStar helicopter

LifeFlight

Search and Rescue

Emergency communication

Avista

YWCA

USA Pea and Lentil Commission

Don Gardner, Clearwater County Emergency Management Coordinator, will help participants look at ways they can begin and continue to prepare without becoming overwhelmed. He will also have information about protecting personal privacy from spying eyes.

Come learn about how people can prepare and care for themselves and their families through the challenges that they face individually and as a community. The ‘Living Ready’ preparedness fair will be at the LDS meetinghouse, 13610 Fremont. To reach the church, turn off U.S. Highway 12 just west of Barney's Harvest Foods.

Nixle service coming to Clearwater County

By Don Gardner

Clearwater County Office of Emergency Management is utilizing a new communications service that allows us to send important, valuable community information directly to residents using the latest technology.

The Nixle Community Information Service allows the county to create and publish messages to be delivered to subscribed residents instantly via cell phone text message and/or email. Notifications can also be accessed online at Nixle’s web site at www.nixle .com

Messages may include Weather Warnings and Evacuation Notices as well as other relevant safety and community event information.

The messages can be sent specifically to residents registered within a quarter mile radius, giving them the opportunity to receive trustworthy information relevant only to their neighborhood. Residents decide from which local agencies they want to receive information. Subscribers can also choose the way in which alerts are received, whether it is by email, text message, or over the web, and the service is free.

Nixle builds on the foundations of other public-to-public communication services, such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, but adds a key component: security. When citizens receive information from our agency via Nixle, they know it can be trusted.

Residents of Clearwater County and those in neighboring communities can immediately begin receiving pertinent information via text message, email, and web by registering at www.nixle.com. We are very excited to have you experience it for yourself.

Nixle is a community information service provider built exclusively to provide secure and reliable communications. It is the first authenticated and secure service that connects municipal agencies and community organizations to residents in real time, delivering information to geographically targeted consumers over their cell phones (via text messages), through e-mails and via Web access.

Nixle has secured a partnership with Nlets (the International Justice and Public Safety Network), allowing local police departments nationwide to send immediate alerts and advisories. For more information, visit www.nixle.com.