Logan County Preparedness Bag Project_IL – Overview

In June 2006, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans partnered with the Logan County Health Department to form a community hands-on project to benefit special needs populations in emergency situations.

With Thrivent providing the $5,000 grant and the LCHD leading the project’s efforts, volunteers from the Logan, Mason, and Weldon Springs Thrivent Chapters assembled emergency preparedness bags with supplies provided by local donors and vendors. The main objective for this project was to assemble as many bags as possible with the funding provided. LCDH reported that $4,986.58 was spent on assembling 100 bags.

Because volunteer recruiting and supply purchasing was one of the main focuses for this project, LCHD held an information meeting on Wednesday, October 18 for all volunteers, where they could sign-up for the task. Those who were not able to attend the meeting but still wished to participate were encouraged to contact the LCHD to ensure they were accounted for on Nov 6th, when most of the work would be completed. Detailed information on who was supposed to accomplish which task and when was kept at all times.

As of Oct. 12th, all supplies for the emergency preparedness bags had been ordered with hopes that everything would be received by November 6. Wal-Mart donated 100 flashlights with batteries for the bags, and the LCHD donated about one hundred 2 oz. bottles of hand sanitizers. The backpacks were ordered from Bright Idea, a local supplier, and had both the LCHD and Thrivent logos imprinted on the front flap. LCHD received most of the supplies by Nov 6th. Reported below is an example of how donations were catalogued:

Date / Company / Item Description / Qty / Price / Total
10/17/2006 / Bright Idea / Emergency Backpacks / 100 / $6.45 / $645.00

A complete supply set contained bottled water, food bars, packages of rubber bands and safety pins, snack baggies, trash bags, zip lock bags, work gloves, a poncho, a dust mask, wet wipes, a radio, a light stick, hand warmers, a whistle, handi tak (reusable adhesive), insect repellant ointment, sun block towelette, a 34-piece first aid kit, a blanket, waterproof matches, batteries, and a multi-functional tool. Each set of supplies cost around $50, excluding the cost of the bag. Items were purchased from organizations such as the Red Cross and local outdoors and hardware businesses.


In the end, the Thrivent/LCHD project required three volunteer meetings: on October 18, November 6, and December 11. Volunteers met on November 6 to assemble the bags during a blood drive that was being held at a local church. During the latter session in December, volunteers finished stuffing the bags with the remainder of the supplies.

With the bags completed, the project started its distribution phase. To reach the special needs population, LCHD employees distributed 45 bags through the Department’s programs, such as the Home Health, Women Infants & Children (WIC), Healthworks, and the Dental Programs. The project also availed itself of the volunteers’ word-of-mouth and distribution efforts to reach as many special needs people as possible. No information is available on how many bags were distributed this way. One bag was also given to the Lincoln Boy Scout Troop, who used it to create more bags as an Eagle Scout Project. No details about this separate activity are currently available.

Some bags were saved and will be distributed at the health fair in the spring, as well as used in emergency preparedness education and outreach programs.

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