I live in California, and every year we have an event called the “Great ShakeOut.” It is coming up soon, so there have been lots of advertisements about earthquake safety and getting prepared. Which of course got me thinking about my household and if we are prepared.

My significant other and I used to camp all the time, so we are pretty well prepared with gear, and have supplies, etc. But we have gone a few steps further, last year we both got our HAM radio licenses so we could help with communications if needed during an emergency. And my SO has gotten trained as a CERT member (Community Emergency Response Team); so, if there is an emergency he will head off to join the first responders and do whatever is needed.

Now you might think, wow they are really prepared for the worst and what does that have to do with LAH? Well, I’ll explain why I’m posting here.

Last week a hurricane hit the east coast, about a week before that my SO got an email from the Red Cross, since he is a CERT member they wanted to see if he could volunteer to go to Georgia for two weeks after the hurricane to help with the recovery. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a currently certificate in CPR so he wasn’t able to join them; but he was ready to step up and because of his preparation and training would have been able to Lend A Hand. And now he is looking to get his CPR certification updated, so he will be ready next time.

Another example of how being prepared can allow you the opportunity to Lend A Hand. A few years ago someone hit a transformer in my neighborhood, so the power went out. I was in the middle of cooking dinner, and our apartment was all electric…. So nothing worked. Within a few minutes we had out the camp stove, lanterns and flashlights. At that point we went and checked on our neighbors, several didn’t have flashlights so we spread ours around, some haven’t made dinner and so we lent our stove. But again because we were prepared, we could also help others.

Last example, on a recent camping trip we had a camper from another site come over because no one had jumper cables and their car was dead. We were far enough from anything that AAA wasn’t going to come. But my sister had cables, so it wasn’t a problem.

From these examples and so many others overtime, I have come to learn that the more prepared I am; the more able I am to Lend A Hand when something goes wrong. Which is why I really think, being prepared, trained and ready is a great way to Lend A Hand.

What are some examples you could share of when you were prepared and so you were able to lend a hand to someone?


Gassho,

Shoka
sat+lah