Safety, Preparedness & Block Captains in the Gulch

by Gretchen Milhaupt
SGNA Safety & Preparedness Committee Chair

There are so many opportunities to DO something in Sullivan’s Gulch! Do it at the true GRASS ROOTS level. One way to get started is to become a Block Captain. This is a rather loosely defined community activity primarily for the purpose of COMMUNICATING with our immediate neighbors. We need distributors of this very newsletter. And BC’s can help with information if a disaster strikes, or information about being prepared for an emergency. Also spreading the word about opportunities when we have the Trash Bash, the Garage Sale and Gulch-O-Rama too. The SGNA Board envisions a Block Captain for each of our approximately 50 BLOCKS. We now have about 12 active Block Captains and we would like to find more interested neighbors to join us. In January we will have a planning/training for about two hours on a Saturday morning or a weekday evening. It would be great to have MORE GULCHER’S join this program.

ICE STORM READY???????????? In Portland, we rarely have the electricity out for any length of time, but it could happen! Are you prepared to get by for 3-5 days, maybe even a week without electricity? Consider storing drinking water, and canned goods like beans, tuna, soup, dry beans and rice. A can opener is always good too! For many more ideas about preparedness and how to make a plan for your family, check out: www.redcross-pdx.org.

The Portland Fire Department offers to ANY PORTLAND RESIDENT age 14 and up, great emergency training, however you must send a message in to them at: www.pdxprepared.NET and then they will let you know when the next training will be. It’s 8 weeks, either in fall or spring. This training is vital to our neighborhood safety and we do not have enough people who have done it. Best of all: it’s FREE!

Any Gulcher who wants to get involved with our Safety, Preparedness and Block Captain committee can contact me at: gmilhaupt@comcast.net.

Happy New Year to all!