Introducing a New and Expanded Montlake Snow Brigade

Continuing the Montlake Community Club’s goal to support the Montlake Neighborhood, we are expanding the old Snow Brigade to include two broader goals:

• Aid our community in Emergency Preparedness (to ready our community for major disasters)
• Organize a team of volunteers – Neighbors Helping Neighbors – (to help our neighbors pick up medications, food and other essential supplies, provide rides to doctors’ appointments and provide additional essential services during snow storms, floods, power outages and personal illnesses)

There are several city-sponsored preparedness activities that we can participate in, including:

• Block Watch groups with Block Watch Captains
• HUBs with HUB Captains (a HUB is a community gathering place where community members meet during an emergency. HUBs house large containers with supplies for emergency use)
• CERT – Certified Emergency Response Teams – specially trained teams skilled in emergency management
• SNAP – Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepared – training sessions in emergency preparedness for community groups

At present, there are no Block Watch groups registered in Montlake, and according to the latest city emergency preparedness maps, there are currently no HUBs or CERTs.

Our first step in this project is to register our Block Watch groups with the city and we need your help. Our hope is to have the Block Watch Captains be part of a phone tree for our Neighbors Helping Neighbors program, as well as for our Emergency Preparedness program.

We plan to apply to the city for a HUB that will be located within our Montlake boundaries and begin a series of regular SNAP sessions on emergency preparedness at the Montlake Library or Montlake Community Center.

If you are a Block Watch Captain, please email Carol Cordy, a Montlake Community Club board member, at carolcordymd@gmail.com at your earliest convenience.

And let Carol know if you are interested in participating in these projects, in any capacity. Carol will be sure to keep you informed of our planning meetings and training sessions.

On behalf of the Montlake Community Club, thank you for your time and attention. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Carol Cordy at carolcordymd@gmail.com. Carol has graciously volunteered her time to spearhead this project.

If you are interested in learning how to prepare an Emergency Kit for your home/car/ business, or just want to find out what the city of Seattle has in place for disaster preparedness please visit:

seattle.gov/emergency-management/preparedness/prepare-yourself, or                 seattle.gov/emergency-management/preparedness