[longrider]

Hey Guys, I've been thinking a lot about my community. I would make an educated guess that 60% or more of my community are senior citizens. I'm concerned that they would be the first to die in the SHTF situation. There goes a lot of first hand knowledge of how to do things/advise from people who were there during the depression. The first SHTF occurence in the last century. How can I encourage our churches (there are 9 of them in my community) to prepare? My community does have it's own generator, if the national, or even regioinal grid went down. Is haveing a community of almost 14,000 prepped something that is even concievable? Even if we were partially prepped. I know that the hospital isn't even prepped for an emergency as far as food stuffs are concerned. I need to talk to the administrator about that. I believe this community is tight knit, as everyone is kin to someone even it it's 3 generations back, or by marriage.

What is the general concensus and how would I approach the church and town leaders? They had the foresight to get our own generator. Maybe?....

 

[rickkyw1720pf]

No need to shout:
I may sound hard but probably people in their 80's and 90's will be the first to die without modern medicines and hospitals. But then again what group of people do you think would be the first to die. All knowledge they have is in books, now may be the time to collect it. There are some really good church people I know that would be the first that I would want on my side, but then I know some that would do nothing and just use the excuse it's gods will.

 

[Rigged for Quiet]

That's a daunting task. It might be easier to try and organize those immediately around you first. As for the churches, approach their charitable arms and see how they are fairing in the current economy. Many are already stretched thin.

 

[Prepadoodle]

I would think about having a free lecture on the benefits of being prepared, and post an invitation on each of the church's bulletin boards. What I would try to accomplish with this would be to get a few people from each church interested in the idea and teach them the basics in hopes that they would carry the ideas back to their churches where the idea would blossom.

Once these seeds were sown, I would try to place myself as a coordinator and provide ways to help the different groups work together for the common good of all. I might also devise some sort of preparedness rating that would expose areas that needed attention while promoting a little competitive spirit. This would help motivate people to do more prepping, which ultimately helps the entire community.

 

[wesley762]

In that large of a community is asking for alot. Prepadoodle I think has the best idea about the lecture and making community events about about. but thinking that you are going to get a town of that size to work together does not look good.

 

[Ripon]

About 18 months ago a little blurb in our church newsletter said send the pastor a note for fund raising ideas, church groups or bible study groups. I sent him my email offering to set up a group to help the church be prepared for a crisis to help its members and there are 10 of us all considered Preppers who have been doing just that. We have cultivated relationships with neighboring farmers, accumulated donations of long term food stocks (usually rice / beans) and even developed a church ground secure perimeter plan. It's a work in progress.

 

[Inor]

Longrider - Knowing the town where you live, I wonder if you might be overlooking how well prepared many of your neighbors already are? I do not mean from a "prepper" perspective with a year's worth of food and enough guns and ammo to overthrow a small South American country. But you have farmers coming our of your ears in that part of the state. (Sorry, I could not resist the pun. :-D) Farmers are some of the most practical, well-grounded people there are, particularly the old German farmers in your part of the state. Hell, half of them might not even notice if the grid went down for a week or two.

I expect you will have some trouble with the "townies". Like all medium sized out-state towns, I am sure your's has its share of meth-heads and other similar animals. But they will not last long in truly bad situation.

When I think about it, if I had to ride out a really bad situation outside of our home or our BOL, being about 10-15 miles outside your town is one of the best places that I can think of to be. Food and water are both very abundant. So that take care of half your problem right there.

 

[Montana Rancher]

I agree with those that are thinking more local.

The point is to organize your neighbors which you should know by name, if not then you are slacking.

My plan is to visit all my neighbors when it has obviously hit the fan and start working on

1. A barbeque at my house with all invited
2. A plan for garbage disposal, possibly closing 1 of the 2 entrances into our area, and offering my stream as a local water collection point.
3. Security

Subsequent meetings will be planned to include expanded groups and handle other more basic issues.

The point I am making is don't try to get 14000 people to work together, get your 12 closest neighbors to work together and then get your 12 closes neighborhood groups to work together and then those 144 groups to work together.

At that point you are over 14000

 

[Prepadoodle]

I'm reminded of the Biblical story of Joseph and his interpretation of the Pharaoh's dreams, which led Egypt to store grain in times of plenty so they would have something to eat in times of famine. The Pharaoh was thus a prepper, and it saved his people from starvation. This shouldn't be too hard a concept to "sell" to the churches.

I would point out FEMA's inability to provide much help in the early days of Katrina, and remind them of Benjamin Franklin"s epic, "God helps those who help themselves"

As Montana said, you won't get the whole town cooperating overnight. Plant the seed, nurture it, and in time it will blossom.

 

[Verteidiger]

Mutual aid groups over 50 people are unmanageable.

A lot of mouths to feed, and too many voices to be heard.

They all cannot be saved.

Get your mind armored now for the realities you will have to face then.

 

[Montana Rancher]

Mutual aid groups over 50 people are unmanageable.

A lot of mouths to feed, and too many voices to be heard.

They all cannot be saved.

Get your mind armored now for the realities you will have to face then.

There is a synergy to 10-12 people, including a modern infantry squad.

There is also a synergy in combining 4 squads to make a platoon.

Then a company with (dependent on they type) 3-6 platoons.

The point is within each subsection there are leaders, sub-leaders and followers, and as the numbers increase STRONGER leaders, sub leaders and followers.

With the proper structure a group of 50 people is quite manageable, but it will require leadership equal to the task.

The problem with modern day movies and reality shows is the leaders don't excommunicate or cap the liberals quick enough.

 

[Verteidiger]

Montana, you make valid points.

But in a before the SHTF scenario you have to deal with a large group that have heads of the households who think they know what is best for their brood. The OP is talking community group with old folks from church, not a strike team looking to conquer and control an area....

The women want to bake bread and make candles and soap. The girls want to learn quilting and braiding. The boys want to learn to shoot, hunt, tie knots and cut wood, and the men want to go shooting and eat BBQ.... Church groups make poor survival and prepping partners, in my experience. But if you want to golf or shoot skeet, you came to the right place. Not many hard core types occupying most pews these days.

 

[Prepadoodle]

I wouldn't see it as a "leading" a large group at all. I would first try to get some interest in as many of the 9 churches as possible, then let them develop their own leadership and priorities. My goal would be to help them coordinate their efforts while letting them find their own structures and goals.

For example, with 9 groups, you would have the purchasing power to make bulk buys, ideally from local suppliers. This would be good for everyone, so probably be met with acceptance.

I have managed 50-60 people before, and it's not that hard really. To me, a good manager understands he is working for the people "under" him. I saw my job as providing them with the tools, information, and resources they needed, then I got the hell out of their way and let them do their jobs. I think a similar strategy would work in this situation.

People will generally work hard to make their own ideas work, but if an idea is forced down their throats, they will find ways to make it fail.

If you got the ball rolling, you can trust them to do what they think is right for each group or even as individuals. And you know what? They know what's right for them better than you could anyway. Even though the end result might not be what you expected, it would still be a big step in the right direction.

 

[Smitty901]

Elderly,disabled ect with out massive fire power are screwed

 

[retired guard]

Hey Guys, I've been thinking a lot about my community. I would make an educated guess that 60% or more of my community are senior citizens. I'm concerned that they would be the first to die in the SHTF situation. There goes a lot of first hand knowledge of how to do things/advise from people who were there during the depression. The first SHTF occurence in the last century. How can I encourage our churches (there are 9 of them in my community) to prepare? My community does have it's own generator, if the national, or even regioinal grid went down. Is haveing a community of almost 14,000 prepped something that is even concievable? Even if we were partially prepped. I know that the hospital isn't even prepped for an emergency as far as food stuffs are concerned. I need to talk to the administrator about that. I believe this community is tight knit, as everyone is kin to someone even it it's 3 generations back, or by marriage.

What is the general concensus and how would I approach the church and town leaders? They had the foresight to get our own generator. Maybe?....

I couldn't begin to tell you how to do this. It's a worthwhile goal and if you succeed an inspiration to us all. God Bless and Guide You!

 

[dwight55]

There is a synergy to 10-12 people, including a modern infantry squad.

There is also a synergy in combining 4 squads to make a platoon.

Then a company with (dependent on they type) 3-6 platoons.

The point is within each subsection there are leaders, sub-leaders and followers, and as the numbers increase STRONGER leaders, sub leaders and followers.

With the proper structure a group of 50 people is quite manageable, but it will require leadership equal to the task.

The problem with modern day movies and reality shows is the leaders don't excommunicate or cap the liberals quick enough.

The unfortunate aspect of the whole thing is that this will be the model that succeeds.

The liberals and their "lets all sit down and get concensus on this" ideas will starve while trying to fugure out if they use charcoal, coal, or wood to heat their food.

The survivors will be a tight knit group that has and recognizes good leaders, . . . visionaries, . . . and capable people.

Right now, . . . (I know I'll get flamed for this, . . . too bad), . . . there are probably 80% of the people in our country who could not go out into nature, . . . find something to eat, . . . get it, . . . cook it, . . . and eat it. They have been too long on the Kroger list, . . . Walmart shoppers, . . . welfare, . . . and McDonalds.

Most of them will either die of disease/starvation, . . . or while trying to break into someone else's compound who did prep, . . . who is ready and willing to defend what is his/hers.

The idea that one could organize 14,000 people to work together on something like this, . . . it's commendable, . . . but knowing people as well as I do, . . . probably 100 to 200 of them might get on board, . . . the others will all expect to just be taken care of by their peers, . . . as they have been all their lives.

May God bless,
Dwight

 

[retired guard]

The unfortunate aspect of the whole thing is that this will be the model that succeeds.

The liberals and their "lets all sit down and get concensus on this" ideas will starve while trying to fugure out if they use charcoal, coal, or wood to heat their food.

The survivors will be a tight knit group that has and recognizes good leaders, . . . visionaries, . . . and capable people.

Right now, . . . (I know I'll get flamed for this, . . . too bad), . . . there are probably 80% of the people in our country who could not go out into nature, . . . find something to eat, . . . get it, . . . cook it, . . . and eat it. They have been too long on the Kroger list, . . . Walmart shoppers, . . . welfare, . . . and McDonalds.

Most of them will either die of disease/starvation, . . . or while trying to break into someone else's compound who did prep, . . . who is ready and willing to defend what is his/hers.

The idea that one could organize 14,000 people to work together on something like this, . . . it's commendable, . . . but knowing people as well as I do, . . . probably 100 to 200 of them might get on board, . . . the others will all expect to just be taken care of by their peers, . . . as they have been all their lives.

May God bless,
Dwight

Why would you get flamed? We believe that or we wouldn't be here. The question is what percentage of that 80% are willing and able to learn? What percentage are simply going to try to murder pillage and rape? Finally what percentage are going to sit on their duffs give up and die?

 

[longrider]

Thank you all so much. What great ideas. I'm writing them down and will make the effort. Hey, even if it's only100 or 200, it's more than there were before, right? And Inor, I think you hit the nail on the head. With a strong German community like this, I believe that more like 50 - 60% will be willing to listen and think about what preps they have, and what they can do to shore them up. And I would have more people to group up with. And Montana, you're right. I'm slacking. I don't know all of my neighbors. A week from this weekend (I work the weekend) I will have a cook out/street get-together and start learning my neighbors' names. That will give me a week to put up flyers, etc.

I see everyone's points, and yes, Verteidiger, you have a good point, that I need to toughen up mentally. I work at the local hospital and see a lot to of the senior quite a bit. I get to hear about grandkids, all their aches and pains and stories about how they met thier spouses. It's hard to write them off. I work with a girl age 26 that has a pacemaker. If there was an EMP, she would be sunk. But yes, I need to mentally toughen up. I don't have to like it, but I have to do it. As for books, yes, that's a good source. But first hand knowledge IMHO beats books. Not only what to do, but what Not to do.

This is all good advice. You all might look up New Ulm, MN and Heart of New Ulm. The hospital started a city wide push for better health. Changeing diet, getting out and walking, dancing, swimming, etc. You wouldn't believe the improvement of so many people that have dropped pounds, cholesterol, blood sugars, blood pressure. It started slowly, but has really caught on in town. Do we still eat landjager and sour kraut? yes. But the health of the community over all has greatly improved. Check it out. I think I can do the same with some help from just a couple of preppers in town.

Thanks again, guys. I'm stoked now. ::clapping::

Thanks to all of you that gave me ideas and food for thought. What a great community this is!

 

[Verteidiger]

Best of luck on your efforts, longrider! I admire your thought process, and I'm glad you are going to try and help.

I was not trying to be harsh or ruthless - I care about the elderly as well. But when it comes to TEOTWAWKI most elderly people will not make it.

Mindset will be very important, when it happens. If it ever does....

 

[Montana Rancher]

Best of luck on your efforts, longrider! I admire your thought process, and I'm glad you are going to try and help.

I was not trying to be harsh or ruthless - I care about the elderly as well. But when it comes to TEOTWAWKI most elderly people will not make it.

Mindset will be very important, when it happens. If it ever does....

There is little difference between reality and harsh.

Often they go hand in hand.

I think the reality is that if the SHTF that the weakest among us will die in droves, it isn't being harsh it is a reality.

I guess I've grown accustomed to real life that I don't expect it to change.