Church holding preparedness fair Saturday

A Neighborhood Preparedness Fair will be held 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the Family Bible Church in Oak Harbor.

The event will feature free samples of long-shelf-life foods, a free thermal blanket and information from local experts.

“When we have a major disaster, the solution will not be at the home or family level, it will be at the community level,” said Richard Haines, an organizer of the event.

Demonstrations on how to prepare the freeze-dried food will be given and attendees will have the chance to read the ingredients from different samples. Pastor Gary Ray, formerly from the Oso Community Chapel, will present an account of his church’s response to the 2014 landslide disaster.

There will be tents with local representatives from the Island County Sheriff’s Office, Island County Department of Emergency Management and Parents of Special Needs Children.

There will also be a tent with information on water purification and basic first aid.

There will be plenty of activities for children, including sitting in a fire engine and seeing the inside of an ambulance, Haines said.

The goal of the event is to prepare the community to handle disasters such as an earthquake, extreme wind storm or a large forest fire, according to Haines.

Haines said he encourages other groups to engage in similar preparation so the whole community will be prepared for these events.