with disaster awareness Kellen MacBeth is a young man with a mission and he is doing all in his power to see his plans come to fruition before he heads out of state and off to college. "I'm leaving Spencerport and New York to go to college at the end of August next year and I want to make sure I leave my community better off than when I got here," he said. MacBeth, a senior at Spencerport High School, is a big proponent of Homeland Security, disaster awareness and the need to be prepared for emergencies. "Everyone needs to be prepared for emergencies, but it is especially important for the elderly," MacBeth said. "We need to help those who might not be able to get to the necessary resources in the event of an emergency … sometimes the elderly get overlooked." Toward that end, MacBeth contacted Debbie Palumbos, executive director of Readiness Resources, Inc., and between the two of them and the Readiness Resources board, the Student Emergency Readiness Board (SERB) was formed and MacBeth was appointed president. SERB will be comprised of approximately 20-25 students from in and around Monroe County. Their focus will be on disaster/emergency awareness and preparedness. The board will work to improve the community through a series of projects and initiatives. The first project will be providing senior citizens with free 72-hour emergency supply kits. Palumbos said that Readiness Resources was developed to help the community be better prepared to handle either natural or man made disasters. "Our formation was prompted by the events of 9/11 and when the present called the people of the community to serve and asked them to donate time and resources," she said. "My husband, Larry Sr. and I were recruited for a local citizens group in the community and when we saw what was needed we formed Readiness Resources." SERB was formed after MacBeth called Monroe County's emergency preparedness office to offer his services on the citizens corps group and discovered that because he wasn't 18, he wasn't eligible. He then contacted Palumbos and SERB was formed. Palumbos and MacBeth are spreading the word about the group and its mission to schools in the area and are hoping that each homeroom will "adopt" a senior citizen and help come up with items necessary to put together an emergency kit for them. Emergency kits are comprised of basic necessities that could get an individual through 72 hours of an emergency. They include water, basic tools, first aid items, battery powered radios, three days worth of water and food and flashlights among other items. Individuals are also educated on the items that might be necessary if they were evacuated and they also learn about what items to pack or have on hand for their pets in the event of an emergency. Right now MacBeth has four students lined up and said he is in the process of recruiting more student members to serve on SERB. "I hope to have everyone in place so around the end of January we can start working on the project for the senior citizens," MacBeth said. "I'd like to have the kits distributed to them by the end of March." High school sophomores through seniors can participate in SERB. For information, contact MacBeth 585-594-5262 or Palumbos at 585-520-0281. |
