By tapping into interactive activities, take-home workbooks, and engaging presentations, the American Red Cross is preparing children and their loved ones to know what to do in the event of a disaster. This summer, the Red Cross New Jersey region delivered two different youth preparedness programs to children at Salvation Army summer camps across the state: Prepare With Pedro and The Pillowcase Project. 

Red Cross Youth Preparedness Programs

Prepare With Pedro, which targets kindergarten through second grade, is centered around coping skills as well as home fire safety and an adorable cartoon penguin character who guides the children through it. 

The Pillowcase Project, designed for third through fifth grade, first began when volunteers noticed that people during Hurricane Katrina were carrying their belongings to shelters in pillowcases. The Pillowcase Project is focused on hurricanes, coping skills, and home fire preparedness. All participants get to take home a pillowcase with cartoon animals and a list of preparedness items at the end.

Both programs also include a comprehensive workbook full of home fire plan information and more resources for children to pass on to the grown-ups in their lives. 

According to Disaster Cycle Services’ Regional Community Preparedness Manager, Paul Gass,”coping skills are a strong element of both programs. The hazard resources are a deeper dive in Pillowcase, but both have excellent fire information. Pillowcase tends to address more hurricane information.” 

Some of the coping skill exercises that Gass mentioned include deep breathing, an exercise called breathing with color where children imagine their favorite color and picture themselves breathing in that bright happy color, and symbol of strength where they imagine something that makes them feel strong or confident. 

“Kids experience fear and anxiety all the time and coping skills can be used in any situation, not just hurricanes and home fires. I like to emphasize that and the fact that everyone copes differently,” Gass added. Some of these different coping skills may include listening to music, talking with a friend, playing a sport, meditating, or reading a book. 

A Red Cross intern, Karman Pannu, agreed that teaching coping skills is vital, ”Our coping skills activity is always a hit! Kids always come out of those activities feeling so relaxed and calm. It's really important to learn coping skills early on and this activity is so universal, they can do this anywhere.” 

The Impact of Youth programs at Home 

These programs not only educate children about preparedness, but help get useful preparedness information to the adults in their households as well. 

“Children are a great conduit for grown-ups to take action about disaster preparedness,” Gass said. “Kids have an excitement about what they have learned and their enthusiasm about the topic at hand brings adults back to reality. For example, adults get really busy and that reminder to check alarms etc. from your kid is great.” 

This is why presenters are always encouraged to tell children to involve their grown-ups, whether that is asking a grown-up to help test a fire alarm, set an emergency meeting place, or map out a home escape plan to prepare for a home fire. 

Gass spoke about the ideal impact at home of The Pillowcase Project,”I hope grown-ups sit down with their child and the workbook, it serves as an organizational tool and reminder. The pillowcases are fun for the kids, and the workbooks are key for adults and kids to work together on.” 

Another tool within the workbook is a list of emergency supplies that one may need to gather in the event a hurricane is coming. The resources within the workbooks for Prepare With Pedro and The Pillowcase Project are essential tools for planning, sustainable solutions, and overall helping kids get more comfortable with preparedness and disasters. 

Volunteers Supporting Youth Preparedness Education

Pannu has become a subject matter expert about hurricanes, youth presenting, home fire preparedness, and coping skills. She achieved this level of expertise through Red Cross training. With this practice and training, she was able to give six successful presentations across New Jersey this summer. 

”I've loved seeing how animated and excited the children are when we teach them about hurricane and home fire preparedness. They're so engaged and happy and it's overall such a great experience. I love it,” said Pannu. 

During a presentation in Red Bank, New Jersey the crowd asked Pannu plenty of thought provoking, emergency-essential questions. 

One interaction stands out to her in particular,”I remember one girl was very diligent with her preparedness—she asked me a bunch of questions about where a hurricane could hit, which room in her house is the best, and plotted out multiple exits if there was a house fire. I'm amazed at how intelligent and mature some of these kids are, especially because they're only around nine years old! These audiences are wise beyond their years, and have an unparalleled enthusiasm for learning.” 

These presentations serve as an information resource, a vessel for interactivity, and allow volunteers to connect to their audience and their community. 

“At the end of our presentations, students are so excited to get to decorate their pillowcase and the presentations are such a positive experience for them. They always say, ’Are you coming again tomorrow?’ and it warms my heart that they enjoyed it as much as I did,” Pannu added. 

Looking toward the future, Pannu has big dreams and an abundance of optimism for the future of youth programs, ”It would be amazing to do more Pillowcase presentations throughout New Jersey and each of the states so we can reach a wider audience. The Red Cross could always use volunteers for these presentations so we can reach more families and make a greater difference! It's a very rewarding experience and the children learn so much from it too.” 

Volunteer training for these programs is useful to anyone at any level of expertise who wants to better their knowledge of preparedness and public speaking skills and help youth be prepared for disasters. For information on how to become a volunteer, visit redcross.org/volunteer.

The Big Picture for Preparedness
The Pillowcase Project and Prepare With Pedro youth programs support larger efforts of the Red Cross of building resilience and sustainable preparedness. 

“Teaching kids at an early age and reinforcing that knowledge throughout their life with different programs encourages resilience in themselves and then their families,” said Gass.

Other Red Cross programs like Red Cross Ready for adults is an excellent follow up and way to reinforce what was learned in childhood. These programs are cumulative and you learn more as you grow older. The support and knowledge the Red Cross provides lasts a lifetime, and the foundation of that support and knowledge starts with youth programs. 

To learn more about Red Cross preparedness initiatives and to access preparedness information, visit redcross.org/prepare. 

By Victoria Den Bleyker, American Red Cross Volunteer