Man About Menifee: It's Never Too Late to Become Prepared

By David Baker

Most of us have been in a tight spot from time to time. Hopefully no one is ever put in a true emergency position, but if you are, it's important to be ready for it. Thanks to a certain city program, you can be.

There's a story that goes back more than 100 years to the beginning of Boy Scouting and its founder, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, or BP, as he is referred to in Scouting. The story goes that someone asked him once what the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared" meant. Prepared for what?

"Everything," was his response.

When I was a Boy Scout, one of the merit badges I earned that I remember most vividly was the Emergency Preparedness badge. One of the prerequisites was to earn the First Aid merit badge. On top of that, we had to cover emergency scenarios ranging from a house fire to a nuclear power plant disaster. We covered survival if our vehicle was stranded in the desert or if we found ourselves trapped in a blizzard. Everything.

For full details on the requirements, click here.

Jeremiah is a member of Webelos, or Senior Cub Scouts, getting ready to join Boy Scouts next year. Along with his fiends in the Shark Patrol, he is earning Activity Badges that prepare him for Merit Badges later. They just covered Readyman, which incorporates many of the same concepts.

Click here for details.

This got me thinking. What about folks who never were scouts and don't have kids, so they are never exposed to this stuff? Luckily, we have C.E.R.T., or Community Emergency Response Team. They are a group of people overseen by the city who are trained and CERTified to assist emergency responders in a wide variety of situations.

They have a training course coming up that is three days (20 hours) on April 19, 20, and 21. They allow participation of all ages (caution: common sense still applies, don't bring a 3-year-old) but they encouraged Jeremiah to attend and he is not quite 10.

Here is a link to the flier.

I think it would be great to attend. The cost is free, but the value is priceless.

David Baker, our Man About Menifee, writes about his adventures in and around town every Friday in this space. You may leave comments here for him or email him at manaboutmenifee@gmail.com.