Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck with volunteers at the PAW – Preparedness Awareness Weekend at Gum Springs Community Center in Alexandria. Photo contributed
A Preparedness Awareness Weekend (PAW) took place on Saturday, May 5, at the Gum Springs Community Center in Alexandria. The event empowers families to prepare for sudden emergencies both natural and man-made. The program provides hands-on, developmental training in: free car seat checks; hands-on CPR; disaster meals; family emergency planning; and assembling a disaster kit.
The event had a display of emergency kits from infant through adult, including pets and individuals with special needs. Families also learned how to make an emergency plan (evacuation, emergency contact, etc.). Community partners gave information to families about keeping their families safe for any emergency that might arise in our community.
“Preparedness Awareness Weekend is just that. With a number of wonderful county partners, my office has an event to have folks come in, get key information that they need to then prepare the next day for how to respond to any kinds of disasters or emergencies that we have — whether they’re individual, a house fire — whether it’s flooding or derechos or storms or hurricanes that have passed our way over the last many years,” said Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck.