Why do I need water/72 hr kits/food storage?
Over the years we’ve heard a lot of reasons why people aren’t interested or motivated to work on their emergency preparedness. Some of these reasons are listed below. Maybe you can identify with some of them, and maybe this will help encourage you to make it a priority.
“What if we never need to use our 72 hr kits? I would have wasted all that money & time for nothing”. That’s one way to look at it. But do you think of your life insurance that way? Do you buy life insurance and say to yourself, “I really hope I die so that we can cash this in and it’s not all just a waste”. Of course not. You hope you will never need to make that claim. But you have it anyway as insurance. If I get to the end of my life and haven’t had to cash in a life insurance claim on my husband or kids, I think I’ve had a pretty good life. I’d think we were pretty lucky. Life insurance is one of those things you need to have, but hope you never have to use. It’s worth the money you pay in premiums to have the peace of mind that you are covered in case something happens. I look at my 72 hr kits (and other emergency prep supplies I’ve invested in ) as insurance. I have it, so I’m prepared, but I hope I never need to use it. If I get to the end of my life and never had to use my 72 hour kit, then that’s a pretty good life and I was pretty lucky. If you all don’t have to use your 72 hour kits and you are angry at me at the end of your lives, so be it. You can be mad at me. I’ll apologize. Because if the worst thing that happens is that NO disaster ever strikes us, and we “wasted” some money on a kit, that sounds pretty good.
“We don’t have the money. It’s too expensive”. In a few legitimate cases where people are out of work and living off welfare, this is a valid comment. But most of the time these comments come from people who recently went on a cruise, or bought new furniture. It’s not about whether you have the money or not. It’s about how high it is on your priority list. We all spend money on things we view as top priorities…and our priorities are the things we care about the most. If you were to really commit to becoming prepared, and place it as a high priority above other things, it would happen. Once something is a priority, it is included in your budget. Once you start budgeting for something, anything is possible. Little by little, you can acquire your storage.
“I’m just not “in” to food storage.”. People say this to me like they think food storage is a hobby, like crafting or square dancing. And I always think “You’re not into feeding your family?, You’re not into following the prophet?”. Being prepared is classified more with reading your scriptures & attending church than it is with hobbies. Our church leaders have repeatedly asked us to get prepared. Repeatedly. It’s something we do to be obedient, because we know we should do it…not because it’s so much fun. Of course it takes time and money…. But so do crafts, so does soccer, so does square dance lessons. If we spend money & time on those things, why wouldn’t we redirect some of that time and money towards something we have been asked to do by the prophet that could potentially save us and our families in the event of a disaster, job loss or economic collapse?
“I don’t have the time”. This is why we are doing water barrel orders and pre-assembled 72 hour kit orders. These orders are for all of you who don’t have the time to assemble it all yourselves. So please take advantage of the orders and let us help you save time and money.
“I just feel overwhelmed. There is so much to do, and I don’t know where to start”. It can be overwhelming if you look at all aspects of emergency prep. This is why we are starting with water and moving into 72 hour kits. Just focus on those 2 things and don’t worry about all the other aspects of emergency prep. All that is required on your part is some prioritization & commitment. We will work up to the other stuff later J
“My food storage is all just going to get buried under the earthquake rubble anyway”. Maybe so. So if your food storage is in the basement, maybe store your 72 hr kits closer to your back door. We can’t predict/prevent every possible event. But we do know that we will be blessed if we are obedient. We all know of some elderly person who had food storage their whole life and never used it. Maybe the blessing they received from being obedient was that they didn’t have to use it. So even if our storage is buried in earthquake rubble, maybe the blessing we received from being obedient and doing our storage is that we are alive to complain that it was buried. There are a lot of blessings we don’t see or recognize. Life is fragile, it’s a gift. If we survive an earthquake and get to stand there complaining about our food storage being buried under the rubble…. Then we have already received the blessings that came from being obedient.
“I don’t need to store anything, My mom has a ton of food storage, We’ll just go over there” Does your mother know this is your plan? J Unless your parents live in the same neighborhood, it ‘s safe to say that it will be difficult to travel in the event of a disaster. It’s important to have things stored where you will be, because traveling could take a long time or be impossible.
“Everyone knows the church is just going to pool everyone’s food together at the church house anyway? We’ll just go there for food”. We don’t know exactly what will happen. Can the bishop call upon members of the church to share their food storage? Yes. He can. That doesn’t guarantee he will. Wouldn’t it be nice if all of us had something to share, rather than 4 families having to support the entire ward on their food storage that they stored for their small family? How long do you think that food would actually last? Is it fair to ask someone who has been obedient and prepared to give that up and let their family starve so others who didn’t prepare can eat? The 5 virgins found out, there are just some things you can’t share. So while all the supplies may or may not be gathered to the church, it’s better to be a contributor than a taker. The more contributors we have, the better off we’ll all beJ
“It’s not going to happen here”. No one usually says this out loud…. But plenty of us think it in the back of our minds. Watch the news, after a disaster when they are interviewing people, the victim being interviewed always says “I never thought it could have happened here. This is the sort of thing that happens somewhere else…not here…not in my neighborhood”. They say it every time. Every time. Pay attention to the world around you …read the news, educate yourself. If nothing else, read the book of Revelation. Our prophet has told us to be prepared. It has been prophesied that disasterous things will happen in the last days. The Wasatch Front is way overdue for an earthquake. Unemployment is higher than ever. The list goes on and on.
Good people are are not immune from bad things. BUT….“ If ye are prepared ye shall not fear”. And if we are storing up faith in addition to our physical needs, we will be able to have peace of mind and help others. Faith is something you can’t share in a crisis…it has to be your own. It takes a lot of faith to get through a crisis.
President Spencer W. Kimball said ““In reviewing the Lord’s counsel to us on the importance of preparedness, I am impressed with the plainness of the message. The Savior made it clear that we cannot place sufficient oil in our preparedness lamps by simply avoiding evil. We must also be anxiously engaged in a positive program of preparation.”
He also said: “The Lord will not translate one’s good hopes and desires and intentions into works. Each of us must do that for himself”
If you wait around for a more convenient time to get prepared, there won’t be one. There’s not going to come a time where you suddenly have tons of spare money and tons of spare time. You will always be busy. You will always have money concerns. This is something you have to make happen. This is important. NOW is the time. We love you and we will help.
Michelle Benedict, WX 17th Ward Relief Society Emergency Prep Specialist
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