The Emergency Preparedness Fair took place last Saturday at the VFW fairgrounds.
Put together by multiple nonprofits in Wimberley, the event was brought back with the help of Wimberley EMS Director Ken Strange as all of the Wimberley first responders gathered together for the fair.
“All of the Wimberley nonprofits have been getting together for about four months trying to figure out how to take care of the valley,” Strange said. “We used to do these Disaster Preparedness Fairs in Wimberley for years before dropping off. About three months ago, we were in a meeting with those nonprofits called Wimberley NOW (Nonprofits of Wimberley). I brought this up saying, ‘Hey we need to do this again.’ Everybody got excited about it. In about three months we put this together. I called around getting Texas A&M Forestry service, Freedom Canines, and AT&T which surprised me… We had 19 organizations here today”
The purpose of the fair is to help residents of the Wimberley Valley know what to do in an emergency situation along with having a resource bag to help them in an emergency situation.
“The main purpose of this festival is to let people know they need to take care of themselves for the first 72 hours,” Strange said. “We want to give them all the resources they need to put together a bag to support them for 72 hours in an emergency situation. The second reason is that truly everyone is a first responder. We honor the first responders, but everyone is a first responder. When you are in the neighborhood, you are going to help your neighbors so you need the information to help your neighbors and not just your family.”
Not only was the event helping the residents out but also allowing first responders to better know each other as well.
“Another big thing of this is that it helps the first responders interconnect,” Strange said. “You have the CERT people talking to the Forestry Service, EMS talking to the Sheriff’s Department, so all the first responders get to know each other better as well so we are on a first name basis. I feel much more comfortable when I’m talking to these guys on the scene knowing that I know them.”
