Dear People Interested in Emergency Preparedness,

Our 3 Steps project began back in 1992 at a time when there was more peace in the world.  At that point we were just doing our own two neighborhoods. But as the threat and reality of more natural and man-made disasters has increased, so has public interest in 3 Steps. If you need help in starting 3 Steps in your neighborhood or community, contact us. Most of the cities participating in 3 Steps are self-sustaining at this point.  The mayors of Lindon, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Salem, and Mapleton have made official proclamations endorsing 3 Steps as their city grassroots neighborhood plan.  Also, Sandy City is starting to have neighborhoods organize with 3 Steps and the Sandy City Fire Department is very supportive and encourages doing the plan.  Just recently Elk Ridge has begun to adopt the program, and that will help other cities in South Utah County come on board.

Instead of regularly scheduled public meetings, we are meeting quarterly with the 3 Steps leaders from the 16 cities in Utah County presently participating in the 3 Steps plan.  Then each city is handling the instigation of the plan in individual neighborhoods in its own way.

Good luck as you work to help your neighborhoods.  If you would like to schedule a training meeting or presentation for your neighborhood, church leaders, or city leaders, please contact us by email: the3steps@aol.com

Just recently the city of Genola held a huge emergency drill that included communications, large equipment, and medical injuries.  They were very successful, and as is one of the main points of holding drills, they were able to pinpoint areas of weakness that they can now concentrate on to improve.  Hats off to Donna Doane and to the supportive leadership of Genola.

Another of the most actively supportive cities of the 3 Steps program is Lehi.  There Clint Carter, the Lehi City Emergency Manager, first developed an extensive citywide emergency plan.  After he had organized all he believed the city could do, he believed that more was needed to connect the actual citizens living in Lehi with his city emergency structure and plan.  Having looked at the 3 Steps program, Clint decided that he wanted to have 3 Steps implemented throughout Lehi as a grassroots system.  At that point he formally requested that the LDS Church aid the city in supporting this effort and got Duane Sheely, the emergency coordinator for the agent stake in Lehi to head up the effort.  Duane and Clint have invited us to make multiple presentations to various groups in Lehi and continue to involve more and more neighborhoods.  Duane, an active military officer, says that 3 Steps fits perfectly as it comes up from the grassroots to meet with the Incident Command System that is coming down from the top.  Great progress is being made in Lehi with the active support of both the city and the LDS Stakes working together.

Achieving this dual support is not always easy, but it certainly helps when you can establish it.  Some of you have been successful at obtaining city support, others of you in obtaining support from the LDS Church, and some you both.  As for us, we are presently in "consultant mode" and are here to offer you any help and support that you request.  But even for us, the main job is in maintaining 3 Steps in our own neighborhoods.

Our main testimonial is that 3 Steps can work and does work in our own neighborhoods.  We put in a lot of effort up front for the first few years and now can do maintenance work in our neighborhoods, which includes CERT/NEST reviews, semiannual communications drills, and occasional tune-up group buys for newcomers and stragglers.  This requires minimal effort but some effort on an ongoing basis.

Please contact us by email if you have questions or need our help.

 •Two Ham Radio Operator classes finished recently with almost all of the participants passing the Ham test.  The next ham radio class:

(another chance for you to get 2-3 people from your neighborhood trained as hams!)

For newcomers:  Technician Class -  will start again on (we'll get back to you on this) in the Myfamily.com building, 360 West 4800 North, Provo (the former Franklin/Covey building) just west of RiverWoods Plaza Mall.  We meet in the ground floor room on the North side toward the East.  This class will start on Sept. 20 and go for 4 consecutive Thursdays. After the 4th class, the next Wed. night will be the test session at BYU for the license.  Study materials will be available at the class and will cost approximately $10.

Instructor: Rod Mansfield
Check back here for further details.

  These classes are free except for the $10 manual.  We hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to get people trained as hams in your neighborhood.  Every neighborhood ultimately needs at least 3 hams (so that hopefully 1 will be home and available during an emergency).

 •We want to thank Dick Stucki for his generosity in allowing us to use his Dutch Oven recipes in our 3 Steps booklet.  Dick is a world champion in Dutch Oven cooking and is responsible for bringing Dutch Oven cooking out of obscurity many years ago.  He is the man who has established most of the well-known Dutch Oven Cook-offs throughout the country, and many if not most of the recipes you might have stem originally from him.

 •Several cities in Utah are working to implement the 3 Steps plan:  Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Lindon, Highland, Alpine, Cedar Hills, Orem, Provo, Mapleton, Salem, Elk Ridge, Genola, Goshen, Eureka, Elberta, Sandy, and West Valley.

 •We are still looking for neighborhood chairs in all of Utah County.  Although we have over 100-150 neighborhoods participating with us, many neighborhoods are still not covered and won't be until someone volunteers to be the chair in each of those neighborhoods.  If you are interested in being a 3 Steps chair, please email us at the3steps@aol.com.