Where will your family be when disaster strikes? They could be anywhere – at home, at work, at school, in the car. How will you find each other? Will you know if your children are safe? Take the #PrepareKS challenge and develop your family communication plan.
Learn more as K-State climatologist Mary Knapp describes the challenge in her August 24, 2015 Weather Wonders program.
The online challenge kicks off on September 1. Register now!
Just like having a working smoke detector, preparing for the unexpected in other ways makes sense. Register now for the 2015 Prepare Kansas online challenge and learn how to plan ahead for the most common emergencies we experience in Kansas – temperature extremes including drought, tornadoes, floods, and fire.
A little work now can make recovering less difficult. We’ve broken the program down to a few activities to do each week, which makes it easier than if you’re trying to do many activities from a long list. Working on each activity gives families an opportunity to not only work together on becoming better prepared, but can spark conversations about preparedness in general and the best ways to handle future emergencies.
Prepare Kansas is an annual online preparedness challenge from K-State Research and Extension designed to help individuals and families be better prepared ahead of disasters which can make recovery easier. The program focuses on a few activities every week during September. Activities vary each year.
Having emergency savings means you won’t have to use credit or borrow money from friends or relatives if something unexpected happens. Savings makes you less financially vulnerable. For this reason, saving money makes sense even if you are also repaying high-interest credit card debt. Try to do both if you can.
An emergency savings or rainy day fund is an amount of money, usually in a savings account you don’t have easy access to, that is set aside for those “what ifs.” For example,
Celebrate America Saves Week, an annual savings promotion campaign, by making a commitment to save, maintaining your current level of savings, or increasing the amount you set aside for future financial goals. Every dollar saved makes a difference!
As we celebrate America Saves Week, it is important to recognize benefits from savings that extend beyond one’s finances. Research indicates that having money in savings can reduce stress and improve relationships with family members. Savings also builds resilience when unexpected events happen. More savings info: http://bit.ly/ASaves
Looking for a challenge? Participate in the online 2015 America Saves Challenge for daily motivation to save: http://rutgers.ancc.net/ (register an account and select “2015 America Saves Challenge).
Take action ahead of disaster, start or increase your emergency fund!
Understanding the risks we face and deciding how much insurance coverage to buy is challenging. Where we live — in an urban, suburban, or rural area — can make a difference.
Recently the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) hosted a webinar on risks faced specifically by rural residents. It used criteria from rural insurance firms and government guidelines to ask some simple questions about damage, liability, and loss insurance that rural residents should consider each year. Scott Cotton, EDEN Chair-elect and University of Wyoming Area Educator in Agriculture and Natural Resources was the presenter.
Watch the recording to learn how to decide what’s covered, what needs to be covered and what happens if not covered. The webinar is short — just 35 minutes — and full of thought-provoking information.
Learn more and find the link at https://learn.extension.org/events/1917#.VOPG6ks8opF
Learn more about EDEN at http://eden.lsu.edu
