Emergency preparedness fair to be held Saturday at ISU
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POCATELLO – Organizers say that people who attend a fair on Saturday will leave knowing how to get started on preparing for disasters and emergencies.
There will be a “Community Preparedness Fair” in the ballroom of the Idaho State University Pond Student Union Building, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair will feature a number of workshops covering a variety of ways to be more self-reliant and better prepared to adapt to an emergency situation.
“They will not leave the fair without knowing things about preparedness,” said Betty Pierce, one of the fair’s organizers.
Michael Fornarotto, another organizer of the fair, said that the event is aimed at the whole family.
“We have activities ranging from things for kids and teens, all the way up to classes for adults,” Fornarotto said.
And this is important, because Pierce said it’s important for “everyone” to be prepared for an emergency.
“We don’t ever know where we’re going to be if a disaster ever hits. We need to be able to know what to do to be able to help people. We need to be able to act, not react,” Pierce said.
The workshops will teach people how to prepare before an emergency begins, with classes like “Packing for an Emergency” and “Prepare Your Body Before the Crisis,” and will share knowledge people can use during an emergency, with classes like “Thermal Cooking” and “Microgreens.”
In addition to these workshops, there will be around 50 to 60 booths from exhibitors such as the Pocatello Fire Department and others covering emergency preparedness topics.
People will also have the chance to receive free emergency preparedness materials. The first 500 people who “complete a passport” at the fair will receive a 72-hour preparedness kit, Fornarotto said.
Children who attend the fair will be able to participate in “lots of little kid activities,” Pierce said, including assembling their own 72-hour preparedness kits. There will also be an area with activities for teenagers as well.
Fornarotto and Pierce emphasized that the event, free for the whole family, will offer something for everyone to learn about emergency preparedness.
“If they haven’t started preparing, there are lots of things to help give them a start. If they have already been preparing, there are lots of things that they can still learn and do to get prepared,” Pierce said.