*** Emergency Alert System ***

Saturday a 3-year old child went missing in our neighborhood and I was contacted by one of our Block Watch members to see if we had any way of alerting our members of this critical situation. I was not home and did not have access to the telephone numbers that I have for our members. Fortunately the child was found unharmed fairly quickly. Although this was an isolated episode and was resolved without incident, the situation did present the need for an emergency alert system in our area.  I am thinking that a text message would be the best way to reach everyone the quickest. 

The 1^st sign-up sheet that I created on line for the 1^st Block Watch meeting can be accessed by everyone.  Here is the link to that document https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuvuWkUWcxtfdDg4bURUUlNZTXJkcUYwQ0dsTHhHTVE#gid=0.  I added a column to this sheet where you can indicate whether or not you wish to be contacted via email in the event of an emergency.  If you wish to be contacted but do not receive texts, please indicate that you would like to receive a telephone call instead.  If you do not wish for your information to be public please remove your name from the list.  A lot of our neighbors are not participating in the Block Watch meetings but may wish to be included in the Emergency Alert System.  Please feel free to share the link with your neighbors in case they would like to receive these texts.  In the event that you are having trouble adding your name please email me your information and I will be happy to add your name to the list for you! 

I will make a flyer to distribute in our neighborhoods as soon as possible to make everyone aware of their opportunity to be included.  If anyone is interested in distributing flyers or is interested in helping with the Emergency Alert System please email me at powellblockwatch@aol.com. 

 Feel free to share this post on your Facebook page and with your family, friends, and neighbors!

If anyone has an emergency situation that arises such as the child that went missing (I think he had just wandered out of his yard but having a child missing for even a few minutes can be a terrifying experience) please text me with the details so that I can forward the message to those on the text messaging list!  Also if anyone is interested in helping out with the emergency alert system in case I am not available please email me!

Thank you for getting involved to help make our community a safer place to live!