Public education can prove invaluable during an emergency, and some organizations are helping to make a difference in the way people receive information. Chasing4Life is an organization that travels nationwide to provide disaster preparedness information to schools, libraries and other community outlets.
Growing up the son of a firefighter, Eddy Weiss knew he wanted to follow his father’s footsteps and help people. After becoming a volunteer firefighter, he realized that half of his job was to save people from themselves. “It was not the threat of fire, it was the threat of not cleaning their chimney,” Weiss said.
He saw a gap between the information provided by the federal government, like Ready.gov, and the public. What originally started as the Restoration Project is known today as Chasing4Life — a team of educators based in Wood River, Neb., that presents programs nationwide to help bridge the information gap. “The programming our government has, I really felt like these were excellent programs, but I wasn’t seeing them on the street,” Weiss said.
Photo: Eddy Weiss, founder of Chasing4Life/Photo copyright Robert Pears Photography.
The organization’s prototype came out of Oconto, Neb., a town of 140 people that almost 10 years ago was hit by a tornado on Halloween, catching unaware trick-or-treaters off guard. Weiss and his team developed programs for topics ranging from how to create a home disaster kit to storm forecasting. “Since then, we’ve taken that concept of ‘If you can do it in Oconto, you can do it anywhere,’ and we’ve done it all over the country,” he said.
The organization works with school and library associations to present its educational programs to children. Weiss said the presentations are set up similarly to fire prevention programs with the goal of infecting children with the disaster preparedness message in the hope that they will go home and encourage their parents to put together home disaster kits or get a weather radio. Initially the programs focused on weather safety and severe weather history, but have expanded to include the New Madrid earthquake, infectious diseases and pandemics. Weiss said children were very receptive to learning about new issues and wanting to know “what was around the corner.”
The group also has a presentation called Living Library, which challenges senior citizens to get involved with their communities by telling residents their experiences with past emergencies and disasters.
Chasing4Life presents approximately 800 programs annually and hopes to bring that number to 1,200 this year. “We’ve been very careful to keep our programming in line with Red Cross and Ready.gov programming, so that when we leave — as these people continue to look into their own preparedness plan from their homes, businesses or organizations — it all matches,” Weiss said.
Supporting First Responders
The organization’s goal is to reach as many people as possible with simple messages because having a prepared public is the best way to support first responders. “To truly support those people, we need to do more than buy a 9/11 T-shirt at Walmart. To really support those people, we need to make sure we’re prepared at home because that’s what’s really going to help them,” Weiss said. “If we’re one house they don’t have to check on when disaster strikes, that’s how we support those people because they’re grossly outnumbered.”
Chasing4Life has worked with local governments, and a recent event was in Lexington, Tenn., where nine community disaster preparedness events were held in one day. The organization worked with the city’s emergency management and response personnel and library staff to host the programs.
According to the organization’s online calendar, 2010 will start with tours through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Iowa. Weiss is willing to travel wherever the group is needed to help educate children and prepare communities. For more information, visit Chasing4Life’s Web site.
