Organizing Your Neighborhood for Y2K

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6. If you have a video or some other visual aid, show it now. Then take a break for refills of coffee and refreshments.

7. Come back together. Let people know how you felt when you first learned about the information. You might inform your group that there are those who say 'head for the hills' and others, like you, who believe in 'strength in numbers.' Ask people what they learned and how they feel about the information.

8. 'As community members of the city of ______________ we need to ask our government officials to tell us the status of water and sewage. Have they begun to address the problem? Have they done testing? What were the results of the testing? Repair timetable? Retesting timetable? Will they keep the community informed?

'What about hospital status: have all emergency room and o.r. equipment been checked and certified with vendors? Tested? What is the status of phones if there is no electricity? Emergency generators? Fuel storage? Ambulance status? Water and sewage? What happens if medicare/medicaid cannot be received, will they see patients? What will they require?

'Let me help you understand about Y2K being a 'systems' problem. Take your local grocery store. How many hours/days of food does it have? If there is no electricity, how will the trucks get fuel to bring food to the store? Are the trucks computerized? How will the vendors get the food to the trucks to get to the store? How will the automated canners can food to get to the vendors, to get to the trucks, to get to the store? How will the farmers use combines, etc. to get the food to the canners, to get to the vendors, to get to the trucks, to get to the stores? You can see how this system works. The same can be done for any system ... electricity, telephone, gasoline, etc.

'We as community members need to become responsible for our community by being individually prepared, then helping our neighborhoods to prepare, then helping our community to prepare for any possible disruptions. How can we do this?' (Open discussion.)

9. Pass out materials if you have them* for people to take home and review at their leisure. Ask them if they would agree to a second meeting and set a date. Ask each of them to look through the newspapers and magazines and bring back any information on Y2K they find.

10. Find out who will bring refreshments for the next meeting and if there is another person who would like to host the meeting. Ask who will help with reminder calls. Let them know you will get information on preparedness to share with them for the next meeting. Thank them for coming.

Preparing for the Second Meeting

1. You might want to go through your articles and materials and see what you want to share with your neighbors. You might want to begin making your list of what you can afford to buy and what you cannot.

2. Make enough copies of the 'Physical' and 'Personal' inventory forms for each household. (A copy of each of these forms follows.)

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