Would You Be Ready if Disaster Struck?

Elmhurst resident Mike Venetis wants every family to be prepared for any kind of emergency, whether caused by an act of God or by human hands.

His business, The Prep Room, offers supplies to keep residents safe and sound for at least three days during a hazardous situation. He sells items such as fire extinguishers, escape ladders, first aid kits, weather radios and generators. A big seller is freeze-dried food, which he said has a shelf life between 25 and 30 years.
  
A weak economy led Venetis, a former vice president of a home building company for 17 years, into his current line of work. He recalled how in 2005 new home sales fell, and he wondered if the downward trend would last for a few years. His wife, Alisha, who writes a blog about global economics and politics, predicted how burgeoning situations could affect their family.
  
“It started out, we were looking at ourselves and saying, ‘We aren’t prepared for anything so let’s get prepared,’ ” he said. “We talked to friends and family, and we realized that they weren’t prepared.”
  
When the Venetis family began stocking up on supplies they purchased online, they asked their friends to join in to receive a discount. Venetis thought about how he could start a business.

Among the first items he sold were “grab-and-go” kits: backpacks filled with a three-day supply of water and freeze-dried foods, flashlights, waterproof matches, a weather radio and potassium iodide. Venetis assembled what his family needed and then split items with other families. That was about three years ago.

“That’s kind of how our business got started,” he said. “It just made sense to me. We saw the writing on the wall, not with just the economy but (natural disasters) like the Haiti earthquake. Every day you look at the paper and you see some sort of disaster going on in the world. It’s one of those things where you think it (only) happens to other people.”

He recalled how he was personally affected by last summer’s flood and this year’s wild blizzard in early February.

“We went to the grocery store a few days after the storm and (the shelves) were cleared out,” he said. “I was looking for certain fruits and vegetables. (An employee) said, ‘Normally, we have them but for the blizzard (we ran out).' You should have seen this place. It was like Armageddon in here. That’s just for a little blizzard.”

Economic Collapse?

While natural disasters and emergencies such as fire pose life-threatening situations, he sees many of his customers preparing themselves for potential economic collapse.

“Our dollar has been devaluing for years and years, and (some people) say that we're in a double-dip recession or depression,” he said. “A lot of people are very concerned that things are not getting better anytime soon. We’ve seen economic crisis or collapse in other countries like Argentina and Zimbabwe, where all heck breaks loose.

"In one respect, it’s very hard to imagine something like that in America, but we’re right on track doing the same things that these countries did to bring us there.”

Venetis advises people to pay off their debt and buy gold.

“It’s a disaster,” he said. “No one knows when the next earthquake is going to be, but a lot of people believe, and I subscribe to this, that we’re on a path to have a breakdown in our economy where it just gets bad. I would want to encourage people to look for ways to cut their spending down and to expand their professional network outside their own industry.

He recalled his career in home building.

"Ninety percent of my network and LinkedIn connections are in home building. The home building industry is done,” he said.
 
Networking with neighbors and one’s community is important. Venetis explained that if money does become worthless, people can barter items and services with one another.

“In an (economic) depression, it’s important for neighbors to build a community where they know what each other is capable of doing,” he said.
 
Having Provisions

Venetis recommends having a grab-and-go kit with enough food, water and other supplies for three days.

“(With) most disasters. like Hurricane Katrina, it may take three days for rescue workers to get to you," he said. "You have to assume that you’re on your own for three days.”

He also suggests having enough medications and cash on hand in case an ATM is not working or empty, and a hand-cranking recharger in case a cell phone runs out of battery and there is a power outage.
  
When it comes to escape plans, he tells families to designate a safe place in the home, like the basement, and out of the home, like a friend or relative's house not in the immediate area.
   
“You want the most walls between you and the outside,” he said. “You want an interior room, something that doesn’t have glass."

Before a tornado, get your lawn furniture from the outside, and put anything away that might be flying through your windows.
 
Being a 'Prepper'
  
Venetis calls people who prepare for these emergencies “preppers." Elmhurst resident Shelly Domingo, a mom and personal assistant, is one of them. After giving birth to her two sons, Joey, 7, and Santino, 9, and seeing the increasing threat of terrorism after 9/11, Shelly wanted to protect her family. She did her research online, searching for suggested items, and then started buying from Venetis.
  
Some of her items include freeze-dried food, charcoal, lighter fluid, matches, a first-aid kit and a portable toilet. One product is called stove in a can, a makeshift heating source to cook food. She encourages people to purchase basic things, such as a flashlight, hand-cranked charger and stockpile of food.
  
“It makes me feel much better to know that we have these items here at the house if, God forbid, something happens,” she said. “My family is happy with (us being prepared). They feel safe. They feel that mommy’s got control of the entire house and she runs it like a tight ship. I think they sleep well at night. They do know that they’re protected.”
  
When she talks about preparedness with her friends, she gets mixed responses.
  
“Some of them are receptive and have taken some small measures with buying bottled water and charcoal,” she said. “If they have no gas or electric to heat their food, they use whatever they have in the refrigerator. Some people say, ‘You’re crazy. Nothing’s going to happen.’ Never say never as I say.”
  
Elmhurst resident Char Yarema takes a common-sense approach to being prepared. She began buying extra food as a way to avoid grocery shopping and, through that errand, she realized that she was preparing for a situation like a bad rainstorm. When her children were small, she devised a fire drill in case of a catastrophe.
  
“Talking about (a potential fire) and having a plan is always better than not having a plan to fall back on,” she said. “I kept a pewter vase in their room. We had gotten it as a wedding gift but we never used it. I told them that if the window is locked, (they could) use this to break the window and we’ll be around the other way and pull you out of the window.”
   
Living in Elmhurst, having a generator is a must due to recent power outages, she said. She highly recommends everyone invest in a weather radio to be aware of warnings any time of day. The most important preparation is to play the “what if” game, she said.
  
“We played that with our children when they were younger,” Yarema said. “We would ask, ‘What would you do if ... ’

“Most of these (situations) never happen, but if you played the game, if you created some kind of plan in your mind, you already thought about it. You’re not rushing around saying, ‘What should I do?’

"It sounds like it’s common sense, but evidently a lot of people don’t play that game, and they don’t know what to do.”