This “Council’s Own” Official Brownie Try It and official Junior Badge were developed by Jupiter Junior Troop 20488 to help Girl Scouts prepare for the natural disasters that our area encounters. We suggest you go to The American Red Cross Hurricane Preparedness website at www.redcrosss.org/services/disaster/o,1082,0_487_,... for complete information to follow. Print the information, follow it as you complete your awards and also put a copy in your emergency box after you have completed preparations.
ACTIVITY #1 * ** Help put together a First Aid kit with items such as band aids, gauze bandages, antibiotic cream, and first aid tape. Follow the Red Cross guidelines to be sure you have everything you might need.
ACTIVITY #2 * ** There are many things that you can do to help your family be as safe as possible! Talk with your family about how you each can help prepare for the storm and what your specific job will be. Answer the question: What can I do to help? Make a list of your jobs, think carefully about your plan to do them, and be ready to carry out your plan.
ACTIVITY #3 Find the safe place in your home to be during the storm. Put together hurricane supplies that your family will need to survive before, during and after the storm. Follow the lead of the Red Cross website noted above, or television channel sponsored booklets, available at the stations or grocery stores. You’ll want to include such items as a radio and flashlights with extra batteries; the First Aid kit you prepared; canned food and a hand can opener, etc. Be sure to check carefully the lists prepared by the professionals.
ACTIVITY #4 * ** How will you take care of your pets in case of severe weather? Where will your pet stay during the storm? Do you have extra food and medication for your pet? Remember the noise of the storm, even early on, frightens most pets – into behaviors unlike themselves! Many will try to run or even hide so that you can’t find them if you must leave. With this in mind, how will you handle your pet before and during the storm? Never leave a pet outside during a hurricane. Talk with your vet about a tattoo or implant on how to identify your pet if he or she is lost during the storm. If you live in an evacuation zone, research hotels that will take pets along with the family during a hurricane, and ask your family to make reservations early. Try www.petfinder.com for a list of hotels, plus more helpful ideas for caring for your pets during a hurricane.
ACTIVITY #5 Find out the evacuation shelter for your area in case an evacuation is necessary and what items you can or cannot take with you. Are you in a mandatory evacuation zone? Again, try www.petfinder.com for a list of hotels that take pets during evacuations if you have a pet.
ACTIVITY #6 What can you do to keep yourself busy during the storm? Remember you may have little space and perhaps not much light. What kinds of games, songs, and puzzles can you put together to keep brothers and sisters as well as yourself occupied? Put supplies - and your list of ideas that don’t need supplies – in your emergency box.
ACTIVITY #7 Safety Rules! Using the Red Cross or television station guidelines, review with your family the safety rules and precautions for before, during and after the storm. Do your best to make sure everyone understands what they should do.
ACTIVITY #8 Plan menus for three meals that don’t require cooking. With someone in your family, shop for the supplies and put them in the emergency box.
ACTIVITY #9 Learn how to prepare the bathtub for flushing and washing water and containers to hold drinking water. Whose job will it be to ready these things once a storm is on its way?
ACTIVITY #10 Prepare a survey of your house and neighborhood before the season. What trees need to be trimmed? What playground equipment needs to be taken down? Are there any construction supplies loose in the neighborhood? Are you in a flood zone? Talk with your family about how those things can be taken care of.
ACTIVITY #11 ** Learn how to plot a hurricane using either a set of coordinates from a previous hurricane or for an existing storm using the coordinates that are issued every three hours from the National Hurricane Center. Track the storm until it is no longer categorized as a hurricane.
