Does food storage overwhelm you? Need a friendly face to help?
Alana Kirkham is a friendly face who has gained her own testimony of food storage
through trying it out herself. She is a Mormon living in Mission Viejo, a
mother of 8 and has a whole lot of great ideas to get you started on your food storage path.
Alana will be helping us with tips and tricks for food storage every Friday on the blog and
facebook page, so we thought we'd ask her a few questions to get to know her better.
Why do you believe in the power of food storage?
I believe that a
testimony of food storage can only be gained by doing it. I was given
my first #10 cans when I got married, but had no idea what to do with
them. I hid them in the back of a closet until I received my first assignment as a preparedness specialist in the church. In an effort to
magnify my calling, I started by practicing what I was asked to preach.
I began building up my storage and learning to use it. My knowledge
and understanding, and my testimony of food storage, grew with every
effort I made.
How has having food storage blessed your life?
We
have experienced a full range of economic times in our family. The
good times were very good, and the tough times have been very tough, but
the Lord has been in our lives consistently through it all. Danny and I
both felt strongly that we needed to build up our food storage several
years ago. When the economy crashed, and our family's finances became
very difficult, we couldn't have been more grateful that we listened to
those promptings. Having food storage, and knowing how to use it on a
daily basis brings me great peace of mind. Though we've never lived
through a life-threatening earthquake or natural disaster, our food
storage has been an essential part of our family's well-being.
How we can prepare our families in case of an emergency? What is the Power of 3?
The
"Power of 3" is really just a way of thinking about Emergency
Preparedness. It's an organizational system that arranges our
preparedness needs into periods of time: the First 3 Minutes, the First
3 Hours, the First 3 Days, the First 3 Weeks, and the First 3 Months.
Each step lists things that would help you make it through that amount
of time following a major disaster. After receiving my second assignment as a preparedness specialist, I decided there
had to be a way to break Preparedness down in a way that it didn't seem
so overwhelming. The Power of Three is what I was inspired to come up
with.
Tell us a little more about your personal life...
I
grew up in Lake Forest. I met Danny when we both attended Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo. We got married in the San Diego Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1994, and
returned to Cal Poly to finish our undergraduate degrees and get our
MBA's. Danny was recruited to south Orange County, so we settled for a
time back home in Lake Forest, and landed happily in Ladera Ranch ten
years ago. I can't imagine ever wanting to live anywhere else!
We
have 8 amazing kids ranging in age from 17 years down to 11 months.
Four boys and four girls (tied score - game over). We do a lot of fun
activities as a family, including swimming, playing on our trampoline
and swing set, and watching movies together. We are secretly a family
full of book worms! Our idea of an awesome Saturday would be a blank
calendar so we could all sit around in our jammies reading our most
current favorite book and eating ice cream.
Thanks Alana! We are looking forward to all the helpful information you have in store.
Don't forget! Every Friday we'll be posting a new food storage tip from Alana on our facebook page, so make sure check it out, like it, and share it with anyone that might be interested!
To read more about Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness, visit ProvidentLiving.org
