Preppers should always be learning and increasing their knowledge base. I believe they should also always be helping others prepare for or respond to disasters. Here are four great organizations that you need to enhance your levels of preparedness… and who also need YOU to share your time and talents with them!
Project Appleseed
What They Do:
Project Appleseed is a non-profit organization that runs Marksmanship and Heritage events all around the country. The all-volunteer instructor corps is dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history, while also teaching traditional rifle marksmanship skills.
What Instruction You’ll Receive:
Appleseed Instructors are passionate historians that bring alive the history of the Battles of Lexington and Concord that took place on April 19, 1775. Attendees will better understand the choices and sacrifices made by American Patriots that ultimately led to the creation of an independent United States not under British rule. Just the history is enough to make the weekend worth your time, but added to the marksmanship training, it makes for a perfect weekend.
Attendees will learn how to accurately shoot a rifle using proven marksmanship skills to hit targets out to 400 yards. I attended my first event with zero rifle experience and ended the weekend with a full understanding of how my rifle worked and consistent accuracy to 200 yards. Each subsequent weekend has given me a deeper understanding of the history and greatly increased my skills as a shooter. I have attended clinics alongside men and women who have been hunting and shooting their whole lives and even they come away with greatly increased skill and accuracy.
Almost everyone can participate in Project Appleseed events. Children and teens are encouraged and happily welcomed as long as they are mature enough to safely handle a rifle. (I have been on the shooting line with a child as young as 10.) There is no upper age limit and no shooting experience required. Most physical challenges can be worked around to make sure you can still get time on the shooting line. Contact an Appleseed representative in your state to discuss any challenges you may have and how they can be accommodated.
Also, you may not have to own your own rifle. Most events will have some “loaner rifles” available. Again, contacting a representative ahead of time will ensure you’ll have everything you need. Active Duty military, Reservists and National Guardsmen, peace officers, and elected officials can attend free of charge as guests of the program (bring current identification).
Why You Should Be Involved:
Becoming better marksmen with our rifles is always a good prepper skill. Even if you neither own a rifle nor intend to get one, learning how one works and how to effectively fire it may turn out to be good information to have one day.
Further, more people need to truly understand our shared heritage and the establishment of Liberty in America. We need to get more plugged into what’s happening in our country and work to make it better. If you have your own large group (approximately 15-30 people depending on the range location) you may be able to set up your own private event. Groups can be family, friends, church groups or civic organizations, homeschool or scout groups, or even your prepper group. I promise you, a weekend at a Project Appleseed event will be one of the most worthwhile things you will ever do.
Contact Information:
You can read more about the program and check the schedule in your state by going to the Project Appleseed website. When you check the schedule, be sure to consider events in surrounding states. Depending on where you are, your closest event might be across a state line. Also consider looking up state level Facebook pages, like this Alabama Appleseed page.
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
What They Do:
We must remember that in an emergency, it can take a significant amount of time for a first responder to arrive, especially in a large scale event. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training goal is to teach participants how to be an “immediate responder” and safely bridge the gap between when the emergency happens and when the first responders arrive.
What Instruction You’ll Receive:
How the classes are taught varies somewhat from place to place but typically take place for a couple hours one night a week for eight weeks. You learn basic preparedness, first aid, light search and rescue, fire suppression, disaster psychology, terrorism basics, and more. On the last night you will be “tested” in a mock disaster scenario.
Classes are generally free of charge or have a small fee for equipment and supplies that you get to keep.
Why You Should Be Involved:
CERT classes are chock full of information and practical skills that are good for not only individuals and families, but also ideal for a group of neighbors or neighborhood watch groups and small teams at your business or place of worship. CERT groups often gather after a disaster to help support local response and recovery efforts, which allows you to help your community in its time of need.
Contact Information:
Learn more about CERT by visiting the FEMA webpage. You can also locate a CERT in your area by searching by state here.
American Red Cross Disaster Action Team
What They Do:
Your American Red Cross chapter has a team of volunteers who provide on-the-scene service and support to both the victims of disasters and first responders. These are called Disaster Action Teams or DATs.
Teams are on call 24-hours a day for a one week period about every two months. You don’t have to be on call the entire time! Team members coordinate their schedules to allow for full coverage.
The most common call for a DAT is the house fire. My local chapter responds to more than 200 house fires each year and provides families in need with temporary shelter, food, clothing and prescription medication replacement as needed. DATs can also be called out to respond after larger disasters to go into affected areas to distribute food and water and assess damaged neighborhoods.
What Instruction You’ll Receive:
As an American Red Cross volunteer you must go through an initial one day training course to introduce you to the organization and its mission and values. That course can then be followed by a number of disaster services courses, including Disaster Services, Client Casework, Shelter Operations, Disaster Assessment, and more. All courses are free of charge to the volunteer.
Why You Should Be Involved:
I have been a team member and a team captain for my local Red Cross chapter. The Red Cross is a well known and respected organization that makes a huge difference for those who find themselves in need after a disaster. The training received can be beneficial to you and your own family, but being trained and willing to help others in their time of need is an important and effective way to “give back” to the community.
Contact Information:
Contact your local American Red Cross Chapter and ask them about opportunities for training and serving in disaster services.
Local Prepper Groups
What They Do:
Local prepper groups vary greatly and therefore some are “better” than others. It depends on the specific group of people involved as to what will be offered. Some groups are focused on combining knowledge and resources and setting up a joint bug-out location. Others meet to learn from each other by teaching their own area of expertise or bringing in experts to teach their group. Still others tend to be more social in nature.
What Instruction You’ll Receive:
Again, this depends on your local group, their interests, and who they have in the area to help teach. With the Madison County Prepper group in Northern Alabama, we learned things like food preservation, first aid and suturing, ham radio, self defense, gardening, water filtration, bug out bags, precious metals, and more.
We have “Dungeons and Dragons for Preppers” nights where one person leads a scenario and we, as a group, determine what we would do in each situation as the disaster progressed. We have also gone camping together to try out our gear and learn wilderness skills.
Why You Should Be Involved:
I don’t advocate the “lone wolf” preparedness plan. I believe it is important to find a group of like-minded individuals that have skill sets different than yours to both learn from and teach to. I
encourage you to check out a group and “go slowly” to get to know people before sharing too much personal information.
Once those relationships are formed and trust is established, the benefits can be huge. I have made lifelong friends in my prepper group, including people that I know without a doubt I can count on in times of trouble.
Contact Information:
It can be difficult to find a local prepper group. You can use websites like Prepper Groups, American Prepper Network, and Prepper Meetups. You can also just do generic Google and Facebook searches for groups in your location. But as mentioned above, you’ll want to be cautious. Can’t find a group in your area? Start one yourself!
So when you are trying to figure out your next steps, contact one of these four organizations and get active!
So if there’s not any Prepper groups around the area, how would one go about starting one?
An easy way is to start your own Meet Up Group. Go to meetup.com. You can also go to American Preppers Network forum and visit your state’s page. You’ll be able to find out if there are local groups. It’s a good resource. http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.net/index.php?sid=de4467c0ddba0df0a8458f427431a212
A note to let any Texans who are ready to learn, or improve shooting, history and self reliance skills, know that there is another organization in Texas dedicated to rifle marksmanship called “The Ghosts of Goliad Project” which also teaches a fantastic fundamentals of rifle marksmanship program. And, At the same time attendees are learning to shoot, they will be learning about the history of the Texas War for Independence, why it happened, who the major players were, what they did and why they did it. The parallels between the American Revolutionary War and The War for Texas Independence will be discussed, and, there will be top of the hour discussions on prepping and self reliance skills and techniques. Water purification, land navigation, fire starting, emergency shelter techniques, foraging techniques and edible Texas wild plants etc.
The Ghosts of Goliad Project is a seven month project which will follow the seven month history of the Texas Colonists, from the Battle of Gonzales, to the Battle of San Jacinto, and Texas independence, seven months later. Each month will focus on one or more of the twelve major battles fought by the colonists.
The emphasis will be on learning the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship, which are the skills and techniques needed to safely and competently handle and fire a rifle, no matter where your shooting path might take you. While the majority of our students are men, over the years, we have become especially well versed in teaching women, children and new shooters, as well as reintroducing folks who have been away from shooting for a good while. We have loaner rifles we can make available with a little heads up. We allow Active Duty, Guard and Reserve, as well as Law Enforcement to attend at no charge, as we feel we owe these folks and want to give back to the community, and it is in our interest to insure those individuals who are currently serving have the best possible rifle marksmanship skills. We welcome and have taught family groups, church groups, home schoolers, military units and we will be glad to bring the program to your city or town if you have a place to shoot at a range or private property with a good back stop for shooting. We have a turn key operation we can bring with instructors, targets, ports cans, extra rifles and our own liability insurance. Send an email through the website contact if you would like us to come to your city or county.
BattleRoadUSA also has a policy of allowing school teachers to attend our Concealed Carry, defensive hàndgun, fightng shotgun and basic carbine courses at no charge to the teachers, as well as holding 10% of our other course slots open to teachers free of charge.
For more information about our “Teachers Shoot Free” program, or if you would like to learn more about the “Ghosts of Goliad” event, or sign up for any weekend event, you can go to http://www.battleroadusa.com
TinaC – you might be surprised at the people in your circle who may already be preppers! We discreetly talked about some prepping skills (gardening, canning, homesteading, etc.) and found a group within our own family and friends and created a prepper group. We publicly call it a “self-sufficiency” group, and laughingly call it our “zombie apocolypse prepper crazies.” If you find people who have chickens, big gardens, alternative medicine or alternative power interests, you may be able to create a group that way.
Pingback: 4-H Projects and Practical Skills - The Emergency Survivalist
I saw this on Kickstarter.com its called World Light it a lantern that runs on water, no batteries!
Sounds like a good idea. Go to kickstarter and take a look. I ordered 2 of them
Also see the American Civil Defense Association Tacda.org. we have been around since 1962 trying Americans for natural and man-made disasters. See our coursework. Journao of Civil Defense Nd survival Store