Preparedness Month Contest Winners Announced

Preparedness Month Contest winners are announced in the October 4th Friday Update.  Click here to see the list of winners.  

September is National Preparedness Month  
Do you remember the snow storm in February and March, how about the flooding that came in April?   How did you do?  Were you prepared?  We’ve had a wildfire and several home fires in the community – are you prepared if something like that occurred at or near your home? 

This is the time to get prepared, it is not a big job.  You may actually be better prepared than you think.  The City of Cottage Grove will be encouraging efforts to get better prepared during September.  To encourage community members we will be holding drawings for some great prizes to help you get prepared. 

The City has identified four tasks that citizens can complete to be better prepared.  Completing each task makes you eligible to enter a drawing for that task.  Drawings are open only to residents within the Cottage Grove City limits and only one drawing per address.  (See complete rules for more information.) 

All entries for Preparedness Tasks will be entered into a grand prize drawing for a 9000 watt generator.  

Preparedness Task 1 - Complete a Home Inventory.

The City of Cottage Grove along with the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation declared the first week in September as “Home Inventory Week”.  

Home Inventory Week was designated to help protect your family by protecting your assets. To recognize the week, the Mayor encouraged residents to do two simple tasks:

1. Build a home inventory
2. Review your insurance coverage

To see how easy a home inventory is to build by watching this video.

Visit the Division of Financial Regulation website for additional tips on how to create a simple Home Inventory.  This simple task will save time, money, and stress following a disaster.

Once your inventory is complete you could contact your insurance company or agent to review your policies.  

After completing or updating your Home Inventory click the link below to enter the Preparedness Task 1 drawing or go to Cottage Grove City Hall to enter.  

Task 1 Prizes: Five participants will be drawn, each winning a Mountain House Emergency Meal Kit – total of 31 servings – freeze driedBreakfast, Lunch and Dinner meals.

Preparedness Task 2 - Install or verify the operation of Smoke Alarms in every room of your home.  

Smoke alarms warn you of smoke in your home.  Properly installed and working smoke alarms can give you valuable time to get yourself and others out of your home in the event of a fire.  It is now recommended that a smoke alarm be installed in every room.   Smoke alarms have been proven to save lives. 

Red Cross has a program to provide and install smoke alarms for free.  There are three easy ways to get free smoke alarms installed by trained Red Cross Volunteers:

1. Call: (503)528-5783
2. Online: www.redcross.org/GetAnAlarm
3. Email:  preparedness@redcross.org

Smoke alarms should be regularly tested and should be no more than 10 years old.  You may also want to consider installing a carbon monoxide detector that can alert you to deadly levels of carbon monoxide.  

After installing or verifying the operation smoke alarms in each room of your home click the link below to enter the Preparedness Task 2 drawing or go to Cottage Grove City Hall to enter.

Task 2 Prizes: Five participants will be drawn each winning a Luci Light Pro-Outdoor 2.0 with Mobile USB Charger and a solar/battery powered radio/flashlight.  

Preparedness Task 3 - Complete a Household Communication Plan. 

Emergencies can happen at anytime – household members can be at work, school, soccer practice or at the store.  How will you be able to get in touch with each other and ultimately get back together?  Also how will you let family or friends outside the area know you are safe?

Make sure everyone in the household knows what to do in an emergency if they are at home or away from home.  Help your kids know how to communicate during an emergency – do they know how to use 911?  

Useful forms are provided below that can be used to create an Emergency Communication Plan.  Review the forms below and use the one (or make your own) that best meets your needs.  Then make sure each household member has a copy of the Communication Plan.  Keep copies in your vehicles, backpacks or in your phone so they can be easily used in an emergency.

Emergency Communication Plans Forms/Samples

• Create Your Family Emergency Communication Plan - From FEMA - A guide that will step you through the process to create a Family Emergency Communication Plan.  
• Fillable Emergency Communication Plan - From FEMA - A fillable form that can be completed printed out and cut out for an easy to carry sized plan. 
• Family Communication Plan Form -  A Family communication plan fillable template designed for parents to organize emergency contact phone numbers and identify an emergency meeting place.  Full page format.   
• Family Communication Plan Form for Kids - Family communication plan fillable template designed for kids to organize emergency contact phone numbers and identify an emergency meeting place.

Additional information on completing an Emergency Communication Plan can be found at:

• www.ready.gov/make-a-plan - This site provides additional resources and information on how to make a plan.
• FEMA Make A Plan Videos  
• www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan - A site prepared for kids by FEMA to help make an Emergency Communication Plan.  

After completing a household Emergency Communication Plan click the link below to enter the Preparedness Task 3 drawing or go to Cottage Grove City Hall to enter.  

Task 3 Prizes: Five participants will be drawn each winning a LifeStraw Family emergency water filter & purifier with virus removal.

Preparedness Task 4 – Apply to be on the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) or Give Blood. 

The ability of the community to weather an emergency successfully not only depends each of being prepared but also on all of us helping our neighbors.  Two great ways to help our neighbors are:  joining the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) or giving blood.

The City of Cottage Grove is partnering with South Lane County Fire and Rescue and the City of Creswell to create a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).  For more information contact Division Chief Aaron Smith at: asmith@southlanefire.org or visit the South Lane County Fire & Rescue website at: http://southlanefire.org/join-us/cert.  

Blood supply levels are at a low.  Giving blood helps our community recover from emergencies and meets the needs of our neighbors when they desperately need help. The City of Cottage Grove has arranged a Blood Drive on Thursday, September 26th from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Cottage Grove Community Center.   Walk ins are welcome but you can set up an appointment by calling (800)398-7888.  You can also set an appointment with either Red Cross or Lane Bloodworks to give blood at another time.

Links to:

• Red Cross Southwest Oregon Chapter:  www.redcross.org/local/oregon/about-us/locations/southwest-oregon-chapter.html
• Lane Bloodworks: www.bloodworksnw.org/donate/locations/lane

After either submitting an application to join the Community Emergency Response Team or giving blood click the link below to enter the Preparedness Task 4 drawing or go to the Cottage Grove City Hall to enter.

Task 4 Prizes: Five participants will be drawn, each wining a Mountain House Emergency Meal Kit – total of 31 servings – freeze dried Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner meals. 

Official Rules: (yes, we need some rules to make it fair)  

1. The contest will consist of five separate drawings.  There will be four preparedness task drawings.  To enter a preparedness task drawing, participants must complete a preparedness task associated with that drawing.  All entries in the four preparedness task drawings will be automatically entered in the fifth grand prize drawing.  
2. Only residents within the City limits of Cottage Grove are eligible to participate in the drawings.  
3. City of Cottage Grove employees and their household are not eligible to participate.  
4. Only one entry per address for each preparedness task is allowed.  
5. Entries can be submitted electronically on the City’s website or by completing an entry form at City Hall.  
6. All entries must be submitted by 5:00 pm on Monday, September 30, 2019.  Preparedness tasks must be completed during September, 2019.  
7. Drawing for prizes will be held on October 3, 2019 and announced on Friday, October 4, 2019 in the City of Cottage Grove Friday Update.  
8. Winners do not need to be present to win. 
9. Winners could win more than one prize.  Odds of winning depend on how many of your neighbors participate in the preparedness efforts.  
10. Prizes must be picked up at Cottage Grove City Hall by Wednesday, October 16, 2019 after verification of name and address.
11. Prize winners for each preparedness task may be asked to verify completion of the preparedness task prior awarding of the prize.