Every Little Bit Helps

Earthquakes are a devestating experience, in many ways. Many of you reading this blog entry are from California and have experienced first-hand what that devastation entails. This is a picture from the recent 8.0 earthquake that just took place in Peru. We at Hope Force International, are exploring and getting involved with helping. We are currently partnering with Fellowship Bible Church as they collect a container full of things to send to Peru. We also have a way you can donate online to help with the purchase of items (they have a huge need for tents as many people, including the children and the elderly are sleeping in chairs outside). For some reason, this disaster seems to be under reported by the press, so I am asking each of you who are reading this, there are several ways you can help. One is to pray for these families, many who have had loved ones killed in this disaster, as well as many who have now been displaced from their homes. Secondly, you can GIVE. By clicking on this GIVE button, you can donate directly through Hope Force. Every dime you give will go directly to helping the relief efforts in Peru. Thank you ahead of time for your prayers and your donations. It is a small way we can reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters in another part of the world and let them know how much we care and support them in their time of need. God bless you!

Disguised!

And I thought my hard hat days were over when I left Mercy Ships!! But here I am again, along with Todd Sprinkel who is our Director of Emergency Health and Programs here at Hope Force. We both participated in a CERT class (Community Emergency Response Training) which prepares you to be a 'responder' in the event of a local emergency/disaster (although the skills and tools we used and received prepare you for a wider spread disaster as well). We did a whole morning on Light Search and Rescue, how to assess victims in a disaster (as to who needs help and who is beyond help). There were about 40 others from around the area taking the training (4 of our Hope Force Reservists participated). Clicking on the link above will take you to some great information to help YOU prepare for an emergency. Think of it as a gift to your family and loved ones!!

And of course, we did a bit of training on putting out fires (although I had this training while in Mercy Ships, so I was well prepared!). Todd and I both took a turn at putting out a little fire using a bit of CO2...not too eventful, although very informative.

Being in the field of Disaster Response, ongoing courses are a must to keep my mind filled with techniques, responses, and preparedness. What a better time to prepare than when things are calm on the homefront!