Reno Emergency Preparedness Fair

Last year, I had a vision. After talking to many of my homeschooling friends over several months I realized that I needed to take action. They were constantly discussing prepping and how to do it and they had lots of questions. And though I will readily admit that I am no expert, I knew that the talents and resources of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) could really help these women with their questions about such an important issue. And if they had questions and were interested in preparation, then it only made sense that there were loads of people out there who wanted some guidance with preparing for emergencies.

So I proposed a fair. Why not have a big, huge emergency preparedness fair geared specifically for our friends and neighbors in the community?  This was a totally doable idea in my eyes, but there were many people who thought I was nuts.

But I persisted and we made it happen. And I have to confess that it was just about the easiest things I have ever done. This is because for the first time probably in my entire life, I did a fantastic job of delegating. With the help and sage ideas of my fellow ward missionaries, we were able come up with lots of great ideas and figure out the right people to ask to make it happen.  

We came up with the subject matters that we wanted to share with the community and then found the best people to be in charge of each area. 

And the result? It was a huge success! The entire gymnasium was full of booths, with samples, displays and oodles of information. It was colorful and exciting and meaty. And for the entire four hours of the fair, which ended up happening on Saturday, March 9 from 10-2pm, the church was constantly full of people.

We also offered two class options every hour: wills & trusts, investing, gardening, water storage, getting started, bread making, canning & preserving, first aid. The teachers were well prepared and we had good attendance. And there were constantly people talking to the experts at the booths. We also had lots of food samples, which never hurts.

I learned a lot from this event. It doesn't have to be difficult. I kept it simple, planned way ahead, communicated my needs to our army of volunteers and then prayed like crazy. Heavenly Father heard my prayers. I hope this event will foster positive feelings for us and the community in Reno and that many good things will come from this. I think it is so important to put yourself out there to be a force for good, wherever you are planted. I also learned that it is important to dream big, set goals, and then implement them. 

It is so satisfying to think up something big, and then watch how it all comes together. Fantastic!