Readiness News - NEIGHBORS READY!

Tualatin Preparedness Fair - Sept 7th, 2024

9/7/2024

Neighbors Ready! volunteers participated in the Tualatin Emergency Preparedness Fair on Sept 7th, 2024, an event sponsored by the Tualatin Emergency Preparedness Team. Our volunteers answered questions about water resiliency, emergency water supplies, and water purification.

THPRD's Concert in the Park - July 25, 2024

7/18/2024

Look for the Neighbors Ready! canopy at THPRD's Free Concert on Thurs, July 25th, 6 - 8 PM at Commonwealth Lake, SW Foothill Drive and Dellwood Avenue. This FREE concert will feature Never Come Down! Weaving together modern and traditional styles of bluegrass and americana music, Never Come Down is a Portland, Oregon band. Bring family & friends to enjoy a night of music along with kid’s activities. Low-profile lawn chairs or blankets for seating are encouraged.

Take Steps to Stay Safe in Extreme Heat

7/7/2024

When outside temperatures are extreme, the danger increases for heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. Older adults, young children and people with mental illness and chronic diseases are at high risk. Pregnant people should take extra care to stay cool and hydrated in hot weather.

How to protect your home from wildfire

7/6/2024

Heat domes and dry weather create ideal conditions for wildfires. In 2023, Oregon ranked #5 for the most acres burned in 2023. Now is the time to do everything you can to protect your family and home against the potentially devastating threat of wildfires. What can you do? Continue reading for more information.

Click image to download a checklist for creating a defensible space

Be Ready! Disaster Survival Workshop - July 13th

6/16/2024

You never know when the unexpected might happen: a major earthquake, fire, or other disaster event could displace you and your family. If you couldn't stay in your home, what would you do?

Learn what to do after a disaster
Join us and learn what to do at our Disaster Preparedness & Survival Workshop on July 13th, 2 - 8 PM (overnight camping is optional) at the Cedar Hills Recreation Center. Register at: https://tinyurl.com/quakeup071324

What's involved?
At this event, you'll learn survival skills for a variety of disaster scenarios from our expert guides--experienced scouts (Troop 618) and Neighbors Ready! volunteers. Our event involves two parts: The main event involves hands-on training in small groups from 2 PM to 8 PM on Saturday, July 13th.
If you'd like to continue the experience, you can join us for an optional overnight camp in the field at the Cedar Hills Recreation Center. We break camp at 10 AM on Sunday, July 14th. You can join us for the training on Saturday ONLY, or for the complete experience, you can join us for the overnight camp, too. Whatever is your preference.

Click to go to our registration page

Click to go to our registration page.

What will you learn?
Our scout guides will lead us through these skills: tenting; cooking with non-electric heat; cleanup with limited water; basic first aid; basic sanitation & waste management; and water collection, filtration, and purification, and more. You'll enjoy preparing outdoor meals together, including dinner and--for overnight campers--breakfast on Sunday.

Who can come?
We welcome adults and accompanied-minors, 6th grade and older, with a parent or legal guardian at the event. Enrollment is limited to 40 people to keep groups small for a personalized experience. Our $15 tickets cover materials and insurance costs; we also welcome donations. Scholarships are available; send us an email with your request at [email protected].

How do I register?
Don't miss out on this amazing learning opportunity! Pack your go bag and camping gear and get ready for an unforgettable adventure with your community. Space is limited, so sign up early! Register at: https://tinyurl.com/quakeup071324

Calling CQ for ARRL Field Day '24! (Ham Radio) - Sat, June 22, 2024

6/15/2024

If you are a HAM Radio Operator, you won't want to miss this opportunity to practice your skills! Field Day is the most popular amateur radio event held annually in the US. On Saturday, June 22, 2024, more than 35,000 amateur radio operators will gather with their clubs, groups, and friends to operate from remote locations. This event is organized by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

For more info about ARRL Field Day 2024, click this image

Emergency Preparedness Fair - Sat, July 13

6/14/2024

Emergency Preparedness Fairs offer you an opportunity to pick up helpful information and get your preparedness questions answered. On Saturday, July 13th, from 10 AM to 1 PM, you're invited to attend a free Emergency Preparedness Fair that will feature several participating organizations, including:

Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
Medical Reserve Corps
Red Cross
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
Washington County Emergency Management

Where to go and how to get there
This event is free to the public and is hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) at 5175 SW 209th Ave in Aloha. Please note that construction is blocking the junction of 209th and TV Highway. Suggested routes include:

198th south from TV Highway to Blanton, right on Blanton and left of 209th, OR
Cornelius Pass road south to Blanton, left on Blanton, and then right on 209th

Author

The information for this announcement was provided by Hal Lillywhite, a member of the Emergency Fair organizing committee and a volunteer with the Medical Reserve Corps.

Recipes After Disaster - Eating Without Electricity (Day 5)

6/3/2024

This is the fifth in our blog series about recipes that you can easily prepare without power. Scroll down to the bottom of this blog for links to the other blogs in this series.

Pantry Soup Warmed by Tea Candles
Today we’re going back to the pantry, and back to the tealight stove (mentioned in Day 2). After four days of power outage, you may have some canned soup in your pantry that you could warm up. But for now, let’s find a way to “soup up” some cans of single veggies.

I was pleased to find that our hoursehold's two colanders could be inverted and nested to hold our saucepan over some tealight flames. This worked, but I've since decided that it’s simpler to just put a cooling rack and pot over some tealights in an oven-safe container (fourth image shown). This last setup gets the pot slightly closer to the flames, and gives space for a few more tealights.
If the tealights are too far from the pot, they could be raised slighly (perhaps with some foil-lined cardboard, ala Provident Prepper). If they are so close that the bottom of the pot smothers them, then use a taller oven-safe container. What kind of tealight stove can you assemble from what you already have? Feel free to send us pictures!

Small collander holding tealights

Soup warming up on top of the large collander while the small collander holds lit tealights below

Large collander covering the small collander

A simpler stove. Tealights not shown, but they would sit under the pot, in the oven-safe glass container.

THPRD Awarded $947K for Emergency Preparedness Upgrades!

5/30/2024

On Thursday, May 30th, Neighbors Ready! board members Cate Arnold, Karen Ronning-Hall, and Bill Hall joined Congresswoman Bonamici and many dedicated local leaders and community partners to celebrate $946,956 in funding that Bonamici helped to secure for Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD). THPRD will use the investment to improve emergency preparedness across its facilities and increase the community’s climate resilience. With more intense and frequent extreme weather caused by the climate crisis, it’s important to have safe spaces where people can go in the event of extreme heat, wildfire smoke, or any other emergency. Thank you, Congresswoman Bonamici

Beaverton Volunteer Fair - Sat, June 8th

5/27/2024

Visit our booth at the Beaverton Volunteer Fair on June 8th (10 AM - 1 PM) at the Beaverton Library 12375 SW Fifth Street, Beaverton, OR.