This is it – the end of Disaster Preparedness Month. All but one night this month, we brought you tips, links, recommendations about making sure you and your loved ones are better prepared just in case of the unthinkable. HUGE thanks to the West Seattle preparedness-volunteer crew – including Karen Berge, Deb Greer, Cindi Barker, Ron Zuber, and everyone who works on the Emergency Communication Hubs in neighborhoods around the peninsula. And thanks to you for taking a few minutes to read. These haven’t sparked massive discussions online but they weren’t meant to – they were meant to get you thinking and hopefully preparing, and if at least a few West Seattleites added something to their kit, memorized their nearest Hub, signed up for 3 to Get Ready (left) – that’s what it’s all about. Here are the recap and regular links one more time:

*Archive of all Disaster Preparedness Month stories on WSB, newest to oldest
*West Seattle Be Prepared website – resource-rich, full of links and maps and information, WS-specific
*West Seattle Be Prepared Facebook group – join!
*3 to Get Ready, the city’s preparedness campaign (sponsoring WSB to get the word out), continuing 1 more week

And as noted in the first week of DP Month, the city has two classes in June in West Seattle – an earthquake-retrofitting class in Admiral on June 1, a SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) class in Delridge June 8. Disaster Preparedness Month may be ending, but any day can be Preparedness Day.

On this second-to-last night of our Disaster Preparedness Month coverage: Feeling overwhelmed by all the advice and exhortations, knowing there is so much you need to do, but not knowing where to start? Here’s help. Morgan Junction preparedness volunteer (and emergency responder when wearing his professional hat) Ron Zuber shares a calendar created by the Santa Rosa (California) Fire Department, but NOT specific to that locale – every step is absolutely applicable here (among many other places). It is a week-by-week calendar that offers several steps you can take EACH WEEK – at your leisure during that week – for six months. Print it out, put it on the fridge, check off the steps as you take them; every bit of progress you make is progress toward making sure you and your loved ones could make it through a disaster. HERE’S THE DOWNLOAD (Word doc). Meantime, those other regular reminders – tons of resources online at West Seattle Be Prepared, including the map to West Seattle’s Emergency Communication Hubs (memorize yours!); take the extra online step and join the Facebook group that’s part of West Seattle Be Prepared; plus – there’s still time to get in on the “prize pack” for the city’s 3 to Get Ready campaign (sponsoring WSB as part of Disaster Preparedness Month). Again, don’t get overwhelmed – every small step you take, means you’re more prepared than you were before.

Transportation is the focus for this Disaster Preparedness Month “moment” … specifically, how you’d get around if you can’t drive, either because you’re out of fuel or the roads are jammed/impassable. West Seattle Be Prepared webmaster (and more) Karen Berge recalls the scenes from 9/11 in which women were trying to walk with shoes that weren’t made for distance – giving rise to the thought that even if high heels are your preferred business wear, you might keep something more practical handy at your workplace, stashed in a locker or under a desk, and at home, regardless of what you usually wear, know where the sturdiest, most walkable shoes are, in case you have to get out fast. If you’re not fully acquainted with West Seattle’s streets and trails, take some time to learn more about them – the West Seattle Walking Trails maps can help. Know the route to your West Seattle Emergency Communication Hub, at least. And beyond walkability – even if you don’t or can’t regularly ride a bike, you might consider having one around as a matter of preparedness; taking the idea even further, given that we’re surrounded by water, owning watercraft (or having an agreement with a friend who has a boat moored on this side of the bay) could be considered part of preparedness as well.

Now, for the third to last time, our nightly reminders:
–West Seattle Be Prepared (resource-laden, WS-specific website here; Facebook group for more discussion/ideas here)
-Accept the city’s simple 3 To Get Ready challenge (register for prizes!), which is being advertised on WSB through early May
-All of this month’s reports/ideas/links are in the WSB Preparedness archive, newest to oldest – see them here

During this Disaster Preparedness Month, we’ve mentioned the city’s preparedness activities before. Here’s a simple one that you can take advantage of: The monthly newsletter from the Office of Emergency Management. Not quite May yet but the May edition is out – see it here. It lists upcoming classes and drills, in addition to taking a closer look at a specific preparedness topic you might not have heard much about. This edition also has another reminder about the “3 to Get Ready” (WSB sponsor) promotion that’s under way now. Overall, the OEM website has plenty of resources – as does, of course, West Seattle Be Prepared, home of the Emergency Communication Hubs (know YOURS!) P.S. Still need items for your emergency kit? Might be something to look for during West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – 200+ sales around the peninsula, somebody’s bound to have something you need! (Oh, and don’t forget to join the WSBP Facebook group …)

It’s a two-way story here on the 25th night of our Disaster Preparedness Month coverage: Since the West Seattle peninsula doesn’t have a hospital, what happens if disaster cuts us off from off-peninsula services? First – looking ahead, now is the perfect time to put out the call for volunteers in the Public Health Reserve Corps, to spring into action if necessary in a crisis. Read all about it here. From that webpage, here’s who PHRC is looking for right now:

Licensed medical volunteer roles:

* Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners
* Clinical Social Workers
* EMT/Paramedics
* Licensed Practical Nurses and Licensed Vocational Nurses
* Marriage and Family Therapist
* Mental Health Counselors – Registered or Licensed
* Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians
* Physicians and Physician Assistants
* Psychiatrist
* Psychologist
* Registered Nurses
* Veterinarians

Non-medical, non-licensed support volunteer roles:

* Administrative Support
* Call Center Operator
* Chaplains/Spiritual Care Worker
* Pastors
* Support Volunteer

The PHRC has formal mobilization protocol, but also, the folks behind West Seattle Be Prepared note that in case of crisis, people with medical skills will also be VERY MUCH WELCOME at the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs (here’s the map). One other note from the WSBP site: This page is devoted to information about medical and first-aid help, including a link to Google Maps with the nearest hospital and veterinary facilities.

Nightly reminders: Join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook … take the 3 to Get Ready challenge (city campaign sponsoring WSB this month) and sign up for the prize pack!

Just a little encouragement as we enter the final week of Disaster Preparedness Month. Even the pros work to prepare. The scene above is from the Joint Training Facility in the southeasternmost corner of West Seattle – scene of the Fire Muster competition featured here on WSB earlier tonight. That’s an area of the site used for search/rescue training – just last month, Christopher Boffoli shot this video of firefighters participating in monthlong training exercises:

Telling the story in that clip is Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen, who explained that firefighters go through that training annually. But what about you and your family-preparedness plans – how often should you review? At least “every few months” seems to be the consensus. Set a day and time and hold everyone to it. You could alternate practicing earthquake drills, fire evacuation plans, and going over the information about where you would all meet if you weren’t together when disaster struck (this is where West Seattle has an advantage, with the Emergency Communication Hubs – be sure everyone knows “your” location). Don’t just make a plan once, or pack a kit, and forget about it until you realize rustily – oops – should have practiced.

Got questions about this or other preparedness issues? Great place to ask: West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook.

As we have traveled through Disaster Preparedness Month with almost-nightly information since April 1st, we’ve talked a lot about getting ready. What about when – if – something actually happens? That’s the focus of the advice on this city webpage. Some of the advice on that page has to do with earthquakes, which we’ve addressed already this month, but there’s also a one-sheet with information on Sheltering In Place – which is the advice if there is some kind of chemical spill/hazmat/toxic fume problem in the area. To be able to follow that advice, you’ll want to have a roll of plastic sheeting available – something else to add to your preparedness list, for next time you visit a hardware store. But first – have you already taken the 3 steps advised in the city’s “3 to Get Ready” campaign, including making sure 3 other people know about them? Here’s the starting point; 2 more weeks in the campaign, and don’t forget to register for the prize pack! For West Seattle-specific information, the West Seattle Be Prepared website is the place to go, along with its companion Facebook group. And if you do NOTHING else this month toward personal preparedness – at least know where your West Seattle Emergency Communication Hub is, and be certain your family/friends know too.

Just in time for Disaster Preparedness Month, the city-run Seattle Channel now offers embedding code for its videos – including the one you can watch above, a Seattle-geared preparedness overview, with practical advice, including what to do in case of earthquake. We found it by following links from the city’s “3 to Get Ready” campaign, which is being advertised on WSB and other news sites around the city to keep preparedness top-of-mind this month. Set aside 15 minutes to watch it – being ready is “everyone’s responsibility,” as the host points out – nobody can do it for you. Then take time to check out West Seattle-specific resources you won’t see in the video, like the info-rich volunteer-created West Seattle Be Prepared website, and its centerpiece, the community-created Emergency Communication Hubs (you know yours by now, right? right?).

We missed our Disaster Preparedness Month report last night – and there was no time to catch up in the early morning, because we started the day covering a sizable West Seattle power outage. So that set the tone for tonight’s advice: First, from the fabulous West Seattle Be Prepared website: What to do (and not to do) when the power goes out. But what you need in case of an outage may be very personal – depending on what you’d need to get along for a while without power – in our case, for example, it’s extra laptop batteries – so think ahead of time about what you’d really need, and have it standing by. It may be something simple, like one suggestion we got – this morning’s outage left people unable to run their coffeemakers, but if they’d had some packets of instant coffee set aside, they could have had something stopgap before leaving the house. As for the practical items, a suggested “lights-out kit” list is here. And here are your must-do get-prepared online assignments: Join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook; take the “3 to Get Ready” challenge (WSB sponsor – with prizes!); know your Emergency Communication Hub. (WSB photo above from December 2006)

One relatively simple, but hugely important, home-improvement action you can take in honor of Disaster Preparedness Month: Secure your water heater, since it can supply you with fresh water for quite a while if trouble interrupts your access to the main system. The sketch at right is from a how-to page on the state Department of Health website – which points out that plumber’s tape is no longer the preferred method for securing water heaters, because “so many tanks burst through this strapping” during the 1989 Bay Area and 1994 Southern California quakes. To see how to secure your water heater, check out the state how-to here. Got yours secured already? Send us a photo so we can show the world your awesome preparedness! And while we’re talking earthquakes – a reminder that the statewide drill, recommended for everyone (work, home, school, etc.), is coming up at 9:45 this Wednesday morning. Till then, make sure you’ve completed the basic preparedness steps we’ve been reiterating each night: Take the “3 to Get Ready” challenge (city campaign, sponsoring WSB this month); explore the West Seattle Be Prepared website and memorize your Emergency Communication Hub; and if you’re on Facebook, join the West Seattle Be Prepared group.

That’s Morgan Junction-based preparedness volunteer Ron Zuber, doing double duty this morning – while joining in the student-led breast-cancer walk (here’s our earlier report), he stopped for a few radio tests. If other communication channels go down, there’s a radio plan in place for the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs to talk with other neighborhoods and other areas of the city, as well as with authorities – and Ron works to make sure the system’s running, which means periodic testing. This is in addition to the ham-radio operators who are part of a formal network – we’ve reported before on some of their local tests, often headquartered at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) on Puget Ridge (site of the Communications Academy we spotlighted on Night 10). Even if you’re not part of these networks, simple 2-way radios are often advised as part of your preparedness kit – they can provide family or neighborhood communication over a short distance if needed. And there are some 2-way radios among the increasing number of hand-crank- or solar-powered options. Meantime, our nightly reminders as Disaster Preparedness Month continues:

****Join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook
****Take the “3 to Get Ready” challenge (WSB sponsor – with prizes!)

(Editor’s note: As we bring you a spotlight report each night during Disaster Preparedness Month, we find ourselves repeatedly emphasizing that because of dedicated community volunteers, West Seattle is way ahead of most other neighborhoods in the city – especially for having the Emergency Communication Hubs. That’s part of why West Seattle reps were a big part of a special summit downtown today. This firsthand participant’s report includes important reminders on why preparedness is up to all of us.)

Story and photos by Karen Berge
West Seattle Emergency Preparedness Committee

More than 45 people attended the Community Preparedness Summit this morning at the Emergency Operations Center downtown. West Seattle was well-represented, perhaps a third or more of the participants.

Four of us from the West Seattle Emergency Preparedness Committee (Cindi Barker, Ron Zuber, Deb Greer and I) have been working with Mark Howard from the city Office of Emergency Management and groups from Magnolia-Queen Anne-Interbay and Wallingford-Fremont to plan this event. Several other communities who are just beginning preparedness efforts also provided brief updates on their efforts: Capitol Hill (Angela Wallis), View Ridge (Peter Shaw) and Belltown (Ron Turner). One person from the Green Lake neighborhood also attended. Mark Howard emceed the event (photo):

Many of the other attendees at the Summit were community leaders or those who have some role in preparedness for their communities already; one of the goals of the Summit was to motivate the group to continue working on that effort. Other goals: Inform attendees of the overall Emergency Preparedness work that is being done and where preparing at the community level fits into this effort; provide an overview of where each community is at and where they want to go; identify current issues and challenges; identify the need to maintain interest and structure beyond initial interest in order to create a sustainable structure.

Read More

We start the second half of Disaster Preparedness Month with something simple – it’s the weekend, after all. How about a quiz? Here’s one, courtesy of preparedness volunteer/organizer extraordinaire Cindi Barker – who along with Karen Berge and Deb Greer have provided much of the info for these updates, as well as powering massive segments of the West Seattle preparedness effort itself. The site that hosts the quiz has many others, but most relevant to us – take the quake quiz. How’d you do? Care to share your results, and any other thoughts, in the comment section? Then there’s an impromptu quiz – have you looked at the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs page so many times you’ve memorized all 9? No? Well, as long as you’ve memorized yours, you’re a winner. Make sure everybody in your house knows it too. And if you’re not already in the “3 to Get Ready” city-sponsored challenge that’s being promoted on neighborhood-news sites including WSB, this weekend’s a great time to get into it (and take the three preparedness steps); you can also set aside some time to wade into the depths of potentially life-saving info at West Seattle Be Prepared, while on your way to joining the WSBP Facebook group. We’ll be covering a special preparedness summit Saturday morning, so watch for a report on that.

We’re midway through our nightly series of Disaster Preparedness Month updates – each night a specific topic and/or tip. This week, we’ve been reminded that there is no more important reminder than: IT’S UP TO YOU. You can choose to ignore the topic and take the risk that a big quake, long power outage, or other crisis will catch you dangerously unprepared – or you can take a step here, a step there, toward really being ready. The whole point of personal/family preparedness is the knowledge that authorities will be overwhelmed, at least in the beginning, and potentially unable to help everyone who needs it, so you have to be ready to take care of yourself and your family for at least the first few days. Preparedness leadership is happening on a one-by-one basis too; the West Seattle Be Prepared website isn’t a government or other-institution project, it’s the work of citizen volunteers (who discussed it at this week’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting). The Emergency Communication Hubs – featured on the WSBP website – were planned by volunteers, at least one for each of the nine West Seattle neighborhoods that has a hub so far; they started getting the word out two years ago, with neighborhood-info tabling events at each of the ones that were in place by then. And then there’s the person-to-person aspect: That’s the heart of the “3 to Get Ready” campaign that the city is promoting on WSB and elsewhere this month – take 3 preparedness steps yourself, and teach three others. (Go here to get started with that, and be sure to follow the “register for prizes” link too for fun freebies.) Tonight at the Alki Community Council meeting, ACC member Penny stood up and offered her fellow members a few words of advice, as she has done at other meetings – this time, she shared that she’d learned rollaway luggage might be a more convenient way to keep your readiness kit than a soft carry bag, and she noted that whistles – recommended as potential signals for help – are readily available at Junction TrueValue. Got a favorite tip? Share it here – or at least share it with somebody you know, person-to-person.

Quick tip tonight, as we approach the midpoint of Disaster Preparedness Month, with something new here every night to help you finish the month more prepared than you were when it started: Take five minutes to watch this video. The host shows what you could/should keep in your car in case you’re away from home – or need to leave in a hurry – when disaster strikes. (The non-freezing-fluid explanation alone is worth the investment of time.) Certainly there’s lots of advice out there about what to have in kits, but this goes a little further, and offers a few more ideas of practical items to store in your hatch or trunk. If you want to go back and review what we’ve talked about over the past two weeks, it’s all archived here (reverse chronological order). And we have to ask – have you taken the 3 to Get Ready Challenge (WSB sponsor) yet? Why not? Start here. Then make sure you’ve taken the extra steps we’re talking about here all month – know your Emergency Communications Hub (and make sure any family/friends you have in West Seattle know theirs too!) – review the rest of the West Seattle Be Prepared website – and join the WSBP group on Facebook!

On the 4th night of Disaster Preparedness Month, we talked about earthquake readiness, in the wake of the Mexicali/Calexico quake. On this 13th night, there’s news of another strong quake, this time in western China, with hundreds reported dead. Wondering how to increase your survivability? One thing to consider: Home retrofitting, if you live in an older house. This page on the city website is a jumping-off spot for information, including an outline of city-offered classes about retrofitting. Just so happens (as briefly mentioned on Night 6) that one of these classes is coming up in West Seattle in about a month and a half, June 1st at the West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 11 am-1 pm. It’s free, but call now to register (all the info’s here). If you don’t want to wait for the class, the city site also has information on hiring contractors for retrofit work, and there’s information on permits and plans here.

Now, our nightly reminders:

–West Seattle Be Prepared (resource-laden, WS-specific website here; Facebook group for more discussion here)
-City’s 3 To Get Ready challenge (register for prizes!), which is being advertised on WSB this month
-Your Emergency Communications Hub – know it, know multiple routes to it.

The “disaster” in Disaster Preparedness Month doesn’t have to be something huge, regional, cataclysmic. Much of the preparedness information we’re presenting all month also can apply to something on a personal/household level – again, something we all hope never will happen, but to quote the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Tonight, the ounce of prevention is another webpage: Fact sheets and hotlines, compiled by the state – including an A to Z list, actually A to W, from accessible information (including Braille and ASL) to winter-storm preparedness. This one, you can bookmark and go back to later, printing out any and all fact sheets you’d want to have available – and/or consider bookmarking it on your smartphone for mobile accessibility. Certainly, your default plan CAN be “Call 911” – and it’s merited in many of the circumstances – but knowing initial steps to take while authorities rush in, or what to do if it’s a large-scale disaster and they’re overtaxed, could be the difference between life and death. Now, our nightly reminders:
–West Seattle Be Prepared (resource-laden, WS-specific website here; Facebook group for more discussion here)
-city’s 3 To Get Ready challenge (register for prizes!), which is being advertised on WSB this month
-your Emergency Communications Hub – know it, know multiple routes to it.

If disaster hits and you have to get out in a hurry, you’re going to gather your loved ones. And “loved ones” means pets too. So on this 11th night of our Disaster Preparedness Month reports, we look at what you need to know to protect them too. The city has a flyer you can check out here; among the first tips is one we hadn’t heard before:

During an earthquake: If the ground starts shaking, do not try to hold onto your pet during the shaking. Animals will instinctively protect themselves and hide where they are safe.

From the must-bookmark West Seattle Be Prepared site, there’s a list of pet-related links on this page. One of those links takes you to this page from the Seattle Humane Society, which reminds you to put a sticker on your home to let rescuers know about any pets that normally are inside. (Also from that page, we learned that the Humane Society’s big yellow MaxMobile, best known for bringing adoptable pets to mobile adopt-a-thons around the city, is also used for pet rescue/evacuation situations!) And three more tips provided by West Seattle Be Prepared co-webmaster Karen Berge:

For dogs, general obedience classes before a disaster could be very helpful. A dog with some training will (or should) be looking for direction from the “leader of the pack”, especially in unfamiliar situation. Some basic commands will help with keeping pets calm.

· An animal that is hurt or scared may bite or lash out, even at loved ones; so it’s helpful to include a muzzle or some soft cloth strips that can be used to prevent bites/scratches. Dogs & cats that typically get along, may need to be separated from each other if they are really stressed out.

· People that keep aquariums probably know this already, but they should look for alternative ways to keep their tank temperatures from dropping below safe levels during a lengthy power outage. One tip is that hot water tanks retain heat for quite awhile & they can be a source of warm water. It’s also helpful to immediately take steps to prevent heat loss.

Your editor here can speak to the last point from personal experience – after the December 2006 windstorm, our home was out of power for 4 days, and that claimed the life of a large, cherished fish (similar to the one at left) who had outlasted many tankmates. (We wrote about the loss here.) So whether you have fish, dogs, cats, turtles, whatever – don’t make the mistake we did; be prepared.

Our nightly reminders: Joined the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook yet? Got your nearest Emergency Communication Hub memorized yet? Taken the city’s “3 to Get Ready Challenge“ (WSB sponsor) yet?

Photo and story by Cindi Barker, local preparedness volunteer/organizer

The WSB Disaster Preparedness Month series so far has been focused on highlighting things you can do to prepare yourself for an emergency, and what our community has been doing as well. But today and tomorrow, there is an event held here in West Seattle that serves as a reminder of the many volunteers and broader organizations that are part of emergency preparedness.

The multi-state Communications Academy is being held this weekend at South Seattle Community College. These volunteer HAM radio operators spend their weekend acquiring new skills and better preparing themselves to respond in a disaster. This skill is seeing a resurgence of interest; in the past year, more than 640 new HAMs were licensed in Western Washington, including a good number of youth.

If you (or your teenager) have an interest in HAM radio here are a couple of ways to get involved:

*The national organization supporting HAM radio is ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League): www.arrl.org

*Locally, the most active service branch is the Auxiliary Communication Service (ACS), part of a larger grouping called ARES/RACES. This group provides HAM radio support in the Seattle Emergency Operations Center; information at seattleacs.com

*HAMs also support the Western Washington Medical Services group, www.ww7mst.org

Even more locally, there’s been talk of revitalizing the West Seattle HAM Radio Club; we’ll report more when that happens.

Editor’s note: Thanks to Cindi for the report! Our nightly reminders: Join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook if you haven’t already; browse the West Seattle Be Prepared website make sure everyone in your family knows about your nearest Emergency Communication Hub; and take the city’s “3 to Get Ready Challenge“ (WSB sponsor) – 3 preparedness steps, to share with 3 people (with prizes!).

Each and every one of the 30 nights of April, we are marking Disaster Preparedness Month with a suggestion of something you can do – in some cases a simple step, maybe just something to read – to achieve another bit of progress toward being prepared, albeit for things we hope never will happen. You can catch up with the archive by going here – each of our nightly items is tagged for the WSB Preparedness archive. Tonight, it’s about the youngest members of the family – how do you bring kids into the preparedness loop without scaring them? Both FEMA and ready.gov have kids’ sections – here’s FEMA For Kids, including the “Kids to Kids” section with artwork and letters created by students (hurricanes, tornadoes and 9/11 are represented), and then there’s the slightly higher-tech Ready Kids, starring a family of mountain lions. And for parents, teachers and others who live/work with kids, here are resources from the American Academy of Pediatrics. That page, in turn, points to this one that reminds parents they should ask their children’s care providers what plan they have in place, should disaster strike while the kids are in child care – that “check-in number” we talked about back on Night 3 also applies here – if you cannot directly reach the provider, she/he may be able to get word to the out-of-area contact. One last note – remember that as noted on Night 6, a statewide earthquake drill is coming up April 21 – might be a good idea to make a note to talk to your child(ren) before and after. Now, our nightly reminders: Join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook if you haven’t already; set aside some time to browse the West Seattle Be Prepared website and know your nearest Emergency Communication Hub; and check in with the city’s “3 to Get Ready Challenge“ (WSB sponsor) – where you can register for fun freebies (yes, preparedness can be fun).

As we roll on with nightly Disaster Preparedness Month spotlights – tonight it’s about unlearning, instead of learning. We found an expert who’s written about the “5 Myths of Earthquake Survival.” Worth a look – they include helpful advice on a thing or two you SHOULD do, as well as what you should NOT do (#4, regarding how to signal to rescuers that you’re trapped, is a point we’d never heard before). Again, read the list here. Now, the nightly reminders: Browse and bookmark the West Seattle Be Prepared website, and make sure you know your Hub by heart; join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook to directly connect with other local folks working to be sure they’re ready; and jump into the “3 To Get Ready” city promotion (which is advertising on WSB this month to help make sure the word gets out) – there are freebies to be had, and simple steps to be taken. Anything you’ve done regarding preparedness that you’re particularly proud of, no matter how small or how big? Let us know about it so we can share your story!