If you had to evacuate your home with a moment’s notice, what would you grab to take with you?
In May, thousands of people in Alberta experienced that moment when massive wildfires forced them to leave their homes. In the days that followed some people shared some of the “essentials” they brought with them. Essentials like a package of processed cheese, a jar of rocks, and even a wall-mounted bear head. While these stories made us laugh at a hard time, they also reminded us that we might not be as prepared for emergencies as we should be.
At the Canadian Red Cross we know how important
having an emergency kit is, and we were looking for a new way to get the word out. So we turned to
BUNZ Trading Zone.
BUNZ is an online trading platform with two rules – absolutely no money, and don’t be a jerk. Now the Canadian Red Cross is joining the BUNZ community, offering trades for emergency kit items like flashlights, portable water jugs, and first aid kits, as well as advising people who are about to trade an item that could be useful for their kit.
One of the neat things about BUNZ is that is a community of people helping people. Sarena Ally, marketing director at BUNZ said that she hopes, “...working with an organization like the Red Cross will provide a new outlet for the community to continue to care for others while simultaneously educating themselves on how to stay safe and prepared.”
Of course, we’re not actually looking to gain any new items through these trades (although we love seeing all the unique items people offer up on BUNZ!). We just want to help kick start as many emergency kits as we can, and we’ve been so happy to receive such a positive response from these online communities.