Our opt-in e-newsletter shares ideas and stories, program and product announcements, and other resources we hope you find of interest. (Note: Most links open a new window or tab.) 

 IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Chasing4Life DVDs & Events
   New C4L Training DVDs, media projects and programs

 ON THE FRONT LINES
   Big Dogs Fundraiser
   DepictionPrep now available
   Mid America TEEN CERT
   USFRA membership drive

 WEB STUFF
   Apps & DVDs
   Christmas Ideas for Troops
   School & Youth Group Fundraising overview
   Videos & pics

 IN THE NEWS

 DID YOU KNOW…

 COOL LINKS / IDEAS

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:  Chasing4Life DVDs and Events

We highlighted Chasing4Life in our March 2010 spotlight … but they have some exciting products and programs rolling out so we are shining it on them again! B & j

Chasing4Life is an educational organization under the direction of well-known author/educator Eddy Weiss with a vision to change the way America views the issue of disaster preparedness. Chasing4Life's team of educators present hundreds of programs nationwide each year to all types of audiences and age groups.

C4L has begun releasing their long-awaited training videos that will be available on DVD, as well as via download and pay-per-view. And FedHealth is proud to announce we will be distributing all Chasing4Life DVDs as they become available.

The Educational and Training videos will feature various Chasing4Life Instructors such as Brandi Hodgen, Courtney Feuquay, Eddy Weiss, Michael Kahlenberg and Theresa Gratton.



The Educational DVDs will be beneficial for school age children, science classes, special interest groups, homeschoolers, teachers and families.

The target audiences for Training DVDs are Fire Departments, Emergency Management agencies, Law Enforcement, Churches, Public Works, Medical Technicians, Hospital personnel, Response agencies, Search and Rescue teams and more.

The first 2 titles in the lineup are by Courtney Feuquay called “Mending Minds After a Crisis – The Basics of Psychological First Aid” and “Self Care – Coping with a Crisis”.

Some other topics coming soon include Infectious Disease Control, Pets in Disaster, How the Church fits in Disaster Response, Severe Weather monitoring and many more. With over 3 dozen titles in production, we encourage you to keep watching for more titles, sales and specials. Learn more and view some sample videos on our DVDs and apps page.


Educational Projects and Events

Chasing4Life has over 140 programs in use that can be tailored by specific topics for different age groups and events, and they continue to explore new and creative ways to battle complacency and ignorance in a land wrought with disaster situations and a constantly changing environment. For example...

Eddy Weiss hosts Chasing4Life’s Stronger Community radio show and discusses disaster preparedness, disaster response, First Responders, current disaster events and how you can be better prepared. Chasing4Life believes with more education we’ll need less response.

Currently Stronger Community airs each Monday at 10 PM Central … and the producers have arranged some fascinating guests and topics since launching the show in August. As an example, next Monday 11/14, Eddy’s special guest is Colonel Danny McKnight discussing Unparalleled Commitment and Leadership in Severe Situations. Colonel McKnight's military career included combat duty on two occasions - Panama 1989 and Somalia 1993 (basis for the book and movie "Black Hawk Down").

Some upcoming shows include Preparing For Your Pets, The Walmart Effect-A look at Home Disaster Preparedness and Lions ALERT - Community Groups Helping In Disasters. Visit www.blogtalkradio.com/chasing4life to listen to live and archived radio shows.

A few other media projects include a new television show called 8 Seconds now in production and expected to be released early 2012 along with a new YouTube Series on home disaster tips for you and your family.

Chasing4Life’s 8 seconds preparedness and training campaign is inspired by how quickly lives were changed in 2011 and by the drama and popularity of rodeo; particularly bull riding. "A bull rider is judged on many things, but it all comes down to their actions during that 8 second ride...and of course, they have to stay on the whole 8 seconds!" says Weiss.

"Disasters are often like that bull charging out of the chute," he explains. "It is raw power, and it is just you against him at that point. It all comes down to how hard you have trained and how determined you are." The new campaign will feature the release of a special edition of the "Red Book", as well as new DVDs mentioned above. Learn more about the 8 Seconds campaign at www.readyfortheride.com and like them on Facebook


The Cahokias Kids Disaster Preparedness Program Series is a year-long adventure in learning for young people in the St Louis area. These 12 programs will educate, entertain and better prepare young people for life in a changing world by covering 10 areas of disaster preparedness and response.

As the children progress through the series, they will collect patches for each course completed. Nine of the courses are two hours in length while the tenth is a real-life scenario Search and Rescue overnight event. The series will include an awards banquet and a field trip, and the Cahokias Kids fundraiser is the “Red Book”. Learn more by visiting www.cahokiaskids.com and follow them on Facebook 


Professor Ready! and his readiness programs are taking the Chasing4Life programs to a whole new level as he teaches on the science of disasters side-by-side with the preparedness actions children can take before disaster strikes. With a lifetime of experience staring into the face of every type of disaster, Professor Ready (a.k.a. C4L educator Michael Kahlenberg) makes learning about disaster preparedness fun and easy! Learn more at www.ProfessorReady.com and like Professor Ready on Facebook


Again, these are just a few of the many Chasing4Life current and planned events and projects. Visit www.chasing4life.org to learn about other C4L programs, trainings, blogs, C4L Disaster Response Teams and much more.

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ON THE FRONT LINES

Big Dogs, the brand recognized for Quality, Value and Fun since 1983, known for their hilarious graphic t-shirts featuring the Big Dog invites you to run with them. Big Dogs has recently developed a special fundraising program for advocacy groups and foundations for firefighters, police, nurses, dog organizations and more. There is no charge for groups to participate and it only requires you to place a banner ad on your website with a special incentive to visit the Big Dogs website. When a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase with Big Dogs, the company will donate 15% of the purchase directly to your organization. Big Dogs tracks these sales and will send you a donation check and reports on a quarterly basis. This is a fantastic way to generate on-going donations in a fun and spirited way. For more information, contact jasons@thewalkingcompany.com 

As of Nov 2011, Depiction, Inc. released DepictionPrep which is a powerful, extremely cost-effective tool to help individuals, families and communities. The preparedness mapping software is a fun and visual way to take the basic steps we should all be taking to get ourselves prepared: building an emergency kit, making a disaster plan, and staying informed about the hazards around you … and it’s only $29.95 at www.depictionprep.com .
 

The Mid America TEEN CERT program is designed to teach students how to identify the types of disasters and hazards most likely to affect their homes, schools and communities. Young adults ages 12-18 (as well as adults) are trained to assist in the event of an emergency and or natural disaster, and to be prepared to assist their families and emergency services. The goal of Mid America TEEN CERT is to better prepare the community at an earlier age and offer positive extracurricular activities to the youth of St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln, Warren, Jefferson and Franklin Counties.

Last month the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that the Mid America TEEN CERT program was named runner-up in "Outstanding Achievement in Youth Preparedness" for the 2011 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award. And in January 2011, FEMA recognized the Mid America TEEN CERT program (at that time, St. Charles County TEEN CERT) as one of the top three CERT programs in the country for productivity and initiative. More recently, the program made national CERT news when one of its' young graduates saved an elderly neighbor from a house fire.

For more information, visit http://groupspaces.com/SCCTC/ or join their group on Facebook. Also check out their TEEN CERT/Boy Scouts program submission on the “Preparing Our Communities Before Disaster Strikes” thread on Challenge.gov


U.S. First Responders Association membership is open to all Firefighters, EMS, Rescue, Law Enforcement, U.S. Armed Forces, and Civilian Support Teams. USFRA has re-launched their website, exclusive member listserv and Facebook page, which are all vital tools to help members connect with other public safety personnel across the nation. Learn more and join the network at www.usfra.org

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WEB STUFF

Apps & DVDs: New Chasing4Life Training and Educational DVDs for First Responders, Schools, faith-based groups and others plus links to some cool I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency) and CERT apps. Learn more 

 

Christmas 4 Troops: We’ve compiled some tips, dates and links about how and when to send packages, gift cards or Christmas cards & messages to our nation’s warriors both here and abroad. Read more

 

 
School and Youth group Fundraising overview: Our 18-page PDF has examples and overviews of our various fundraiser ideas for K-12 schools, youth groups and others to help fund your efforts. Learn more

 

Videos & pics: Miscellaneous photos submitted by various groups using our red IT’S A DISASTER! books. We encourage groups to send in your pics to info@itsadisaster.net so we can add them to our album..!

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IN THE NEWS…

Janet Liebsch appeared in “Prepping for disaster” .. the first article of a 3-part series about preppers by Gordon Fiedler, Jr in the Salina Journal. 

Catch the 10/26 archive of Janet and host Will Griffith on Louisa Radio discussing the August earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks affecting Virginia. As fyi, Louisa is just 7 miles (11 km) from epicenter of initial quake. (We were honored to have Louisa Police Chief Panebianco call in and chat too.)

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DID YOU KNOW…

...recently two new detectors have been announced: a portable device that identifies inorganic explosives in less than 60 seconds, and a prototype for a wireless sensor that can detect trace amounts of ammonia, a key chemical found in improvised explosive devices (IEDs)?! The prototype for the wireless sensor and its antenna can be printed on paper-like material using standard inkjet technology. The device runs off thin-film batteries and sends an alert when it detects ammonia. Source: Emergency Management 


...researchers at the Ruhr University of Bochum in Germany said they have succeeded in cracking parts of the XML encryption used in Web services, thus making it possible to decrypt encrypted data?! The official W3C XML encryption specification is designed to be used to protect data transmitted between online servers such as those used by e-commerce and financial institutions. According to researchers, IBM, Microsoft, and Red Hat Linux use the standard solution in Web service applications for many large customers. They said that, based on their findings, the standard should now be considered insecure. Source: The H Security


…the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said November 7 it will change its approach to managing the Missouri River following a summer of record flooding that damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, led to millions of dollars in road repairs, and forced communities to scramble to build temporary levees. The Corps said it will make the changes in the coming months, including getting as much water out of the river basin's reservoir system as possible before spring, and aggressively releasing more water in the spring, if needed. The Corps estimated it will cost more than $2 billion to repair the damage to the nation's levees, dams, and riverbanks caused by this year's flooding. Source: CBS News

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COOL LINKS / IDEAS

ProtectMyPapers helps families organize all their important family documents with the software program already loaded to our flash drive. They simply scan, make notes or data input following up to 100 preparedness categories. The drive is password protected, encrypted, and can be plugged into any computer and no footprint is ever left. Two great services offered by ProtectMyPapers: 1) $5.00 from each internet sale goes to the organization of your choice . . . Vets. Firefighters. Police Officers. Red Cross Disaster Relief … and 2) people have an opportunity to purchase an additional flash drive for a service member / Veteran(s). In return, you'll receive a personalized Card of Appreciation from that person. www.protectmypapers.com


Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) reports on November 9th a minor (R1) solar flare erupted on the Sun. In addition to this flare, there have been several coronal mass ejections from the Sun in the past day. None of them appear to be headed directly towards Earth, but impacts may still be felt. SWPC is waiting for more data to come in to fully assess the potential impacts on Earth. Visit www.swpc.noaa.gov for updates and to monitor space weather conditions.


Supervolcano puzzles are animated depictions of a full-force eruption beginning at Yellowstone National Park. You can choose from 5 different puzzles on Discovery.com. Word of caution from j .. they are kind of addicting! :)  If that's not enough, they have more games and puzzles for your enjoyment.

Got a cool link or idea? Email it to Janet at info@itsadisaster.net

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Please help us spread the word about our customizable products and fundraising programs by sharing our site with others. New readers are invited to join our mailing list and receive a FREE mini ebook version of IT’S A DISASTER! Be assured we do NOT share the list or your id with anyone.

We’re always looking for input, stories, news, products or services from agencies, volunteer groups, schools and others so feel free to email info@itsadisaster.net anytime.

p.s. If you know an agency, nonprofit, school, church, Scout troop, or volunteer group (like a CERT, MRC, Radio Club, Rotary, etc) who could benefit from our preparedness book and/or funding ideas, please have them call 1-888-999-4325 or email us for a FREE information kit!

Stay safe out there, j & B

Bill & Janet Liebsch
FedHealth
7739 E Broadway Blvd # 416
Tucson, AZ 85710-3947 USA
1-888-999-4325 7a-4p Pacific M-F
www.itsadisaster.net
Twitter: @itsadisaster  FB: www.facebook.com/fedhealth

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