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Organizers and volunteers assemble 100 disaster kits in under 30 minutes at Hillsborough event
Summary
Vernon County health officials and partner organizations assembled 100 household disaster-preparedness kits in about 30 minutes at a Hillsborough event; organizers said clear goals and broad local partnerships made the rapid turnout possible.
Dan Howard, a representative of Gunderson Amplify, told the Vernon County Board of Health that a recent Hillsborough preparedness event exceeded expectations when volunteers and partners assembled 100 household disaster kits in roughly half an hour.
"We did a 100 kits in 0.5 an hour, which was pretty amazing," Dan Howard said, summarizing the event's rapid throughput and community response. Organizers recruited local businesses and nonprofits — including St. Joe's for first-aid supplies, local energy and manufacturing firms, and an American Red Cross team that signed households up for free home smoke-detector installation — to stock and distribute labeled buckets containing radios, first-aid items and other emergency supplies.
Health department staff stationed about 14 stations for hands-on education, and attendees lined up before the event opened. The director said weather radios were in particularly high demand, with many residents indicating they had come primarily to pick up that item. Board members praised the event's staff coordination and suggested replicating the model in smaller communities, adjusting publicity to make availability clearer (for example, using "while supplies last" rather than "first 100 households").
