Shop For Your (Emergency) Kit

As part of National Preparedness Month, the City of Goleta is encouraging residents and businesses to “Shop for Your Kit.”

The Goleta Prepare Now! “Shop for Your Kit” campaign encourages shoppers to purchase emergency kit supplies as they do their regular shopping at local grocery, drug. and hardware stores.

Louise Kolbert, CEO of the American Red Cross Santa Barbara Chapter, said, “It is always inspiring to see a community come together to prepare itself for a potential disaster. Between our Goleta Partnership for Preparedness Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) courses, “Shop for Your Kit” program and “Build a Kit” workshops – Goleta citizens are showing that they WANT to know exactly what to do when disaster strikes. This will drastically help our local first responders focus on the disaster at hand. Thank you Goleta for making preparedness a priority.”

During the month of September, displays at local stores will feature emergency preparedness information and materials from the stores to help residents begin building their emergency kits upon their visit. Volunteers will also be available during designated shifts to help put together a kit at the stores sponsoring this program and will hand out reusable grocery store bags with preprinted information on what should be included in a basic emergency kit.

Information tables will be set up at Kmart, Vons, OSH, Home Depot, Trader Joe’s (Calle Real), Albertsons (Hollister), Walgreens, Santa Cruz Market and RiteAid (Fairview Shopping Center) throughout September.

Volunteers will be available to answer questions and assist with kit preparation at various times throughout the month. To find out when a volunteer will be at your local store, contact 805-961-7510 or email goletapreparenow@cityofgoleta.org.

September is National Preparedness Month throughout the United States and Goleta is partnering in this nationwide effort to educate individuals, businesses and communities about the importance of being prepared. The Goleta Partnership for Preparedness (GP4P) is an innovative alliance of the City of Goleta, the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce and the American Red Cross Santa Barbara Chapter. The City of Goleta and the American Red Cross Santa Barbara Chapter are the cooperative agencies on the Goleta Prepare Now!/¡Goleta Prepárese Hoy!

For more information on how to become prepared, visit the website.