"WAKE UP CALL"

In one way or another, Sandy was a wake up call to so many of us.  My thoughts and prayers go out to those so burdened by loss and destruction.  Hopefully, with community efforts like Restore Our Shore in New Jersey, and the wonderful people at St. Francis de Sales in Rockaway, the process of healing and rebuilding can begin and sustain.

From my own pre-storm prep I learned some lessons - good and bad.  Prep that helped: filled up the gas tank, confirmed insurance was current in advance of storm, made a cash withdrawal so when credit card machines were down I was able to buy some warm, prepared food and to purchase needed medicine, and made sure I had enough baby food and supplies for a little while.  I also had a lantern that takes AA batteries - stores were cleared of D's right away.

Lessons learned: have a car charger for cell phone, keep copies of prescriptions and pre-fill anything running low (I used up a big chunk of my cash with an emergency run to the powerless pharmacy), stock up on D batteries for flashlights in advance, and keep a car adapter in console for nebulizers, etc. For the future, here is a much more legit checklist courtesy of ABC News that I will most certainly follow.

Again, thought and prayers to all those suffering - stay strong and let us all continue our efforts to help.
www.restoreourshore.com
www.stfrancisdesalesparish.org