Just in time for Preparedness month activities in September, I was able to travel to Houston again. Thanks to a funding collaboration between Week of Compassion and CWS I was able to train all of ECHOS (Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services) staff on September 26, 2018 on how to conduct preparedness training classes. CWS has a Powerpoint and hand out materials we’ve developed over time to share with our audience when we present on how to be safe during multiple different disaster scenarios.
As always the staff of ECHOS was engaged and excited to be able to learn and to than share this knowledge with their clients over at least 5 sessions during the month of October. The goal will be to train over 100 ECHOS clients within the next 5 weeks on how to be better prepared for disasters. As an additional benefit for all clients participating, this grant opportunity will also provide a basic emergency supply kit to all after the completion of the training session. The majorities of the clients participating have been Harvey survivors and still suffer from the economical impact that the hurricane caused in this predominantly poor neighborhood. If you have to decide every month on how exactly to pay for your bills, purchase food or how to put gas in your car, you will certainly struggle or it will be impossible to assemble an emergency preparedness kit. These kits are intended to be used in case someone has to shelter in place for an extended period of time after a disaster strikes or in case you have to evacuate to a shelter facility. The value of each kit is $100. The kits had basic supplies such as a first aid kit, manual can opener, dust musk, tarp, trash bags, hand sanitizer wipes, whistle and a hand crank weather radio with the capability to be flashlight in them.
The first training was scheduled for September 26, 2018 with 16 participants having signed up. Four designated ECHOS staff member were going to present the training curriculum to the audience. All instructors were Spanish speaking and CWS presentation material was also available in Spanish. To everyone’s delight and surprise we ended up with 26 participants in the classroom and the presentation was very well received. CWS isn’t just there for the response and recovery of communities affected by disaster; we also recognize just how important it is for communities to be prepared for the next disaster.