A regular blog column by Len Pagano, President & CEO of Safe America Foundation
First Week of ‘National Preparedness Month’ has gotten off to a great start!
High-lights this week include:
- A proclamation from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear supporting ‘9/11 Drill Down for Safety’ (see attached)
- A ‘pledge’ (just today!) from Arlington County, Virginia Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Pat Murphy to involve 21,000 students and faculty in drills
- Additional drills in 32 states at more than 110 drill sites (an increase over 2009 by 10 states; note that we don’t have a final tally on drill sites – we expect the 110 number to rise over 150 – an increase over 2009 as well)
- The cross-section of Americans ‘pledged’ is varied. It extends to: Blue Cross Blue Shield, the FBI, Raytheon, DePaul University, AlliedBarton Security Services, Ford, American Red Cross, Argonne National Labs, Target, First Bank, Verizon Data Services, Pinnacle Airlines (a Delta Air Lines’ feeder network), KPMG LLP, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Corps of Chaplains
- Plans for more than 45,000 to participate at the Marshall – West Virginia University football game broadcast live this Friday night on ESPN 2 and
- All totaled, more than 479,000 have ‘pledged’ to drill coast-to-coast… with this count continuing to build!!
LOTS of people deserve special praise/thanks. I’d like to start with sponsors Motorola, UPS and Verizon… along with newcomer Digicel. They’ve helped us grow the program in year 2 to an additional 10 states! And, by September 30, we expect to be working in nearly 45 states (if not all 50)!
I’ll attempt to post developments each day (on this blog site). For now, know that YOU can make a difference by pledging. Whether at work, in your church or civic organization or through a ‘viral email’ you send to others, YOU can push us up over half a million participants!! Let’s partner to make Americans safer… knowing that rehearsing can be a simple as doing a text drill. To learn more, visit www.safeamericaprepare.org.
If you need more specific advice, contact Bob Surrusco, Ellen Bookman or Joe Caprara at (770)-973-SAFE.
I’ll be going to Washington tomorrow… for discussions on how we might further enhance our partnerships with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Zogby Polling and others. Watch for developments – and share any individuals who you think might be interested in partnerships with Joe Caprara or myself.
