Age-Appropriate Prepping Logistics, by R.D.

Many of the articles in the SurvivalBlog discuss preparation for different survival situations. With that In mind, we all have to face the fact that we are aging and that at some point, we may decide to share or pass along some of the supplies that we have accumulated. It also occurred to me that, as we age, our desire to help others may impact our survival plans.

From a personal perspective, I’ve reached the point in my life where I’ve lived longer than any of my male ancestors. And, I’m certainly not as physically capable as I was in my youth. From a purely statistical point of view, I could fall over at any moment.

I think it may be of interest to your readers to think and talk about how we can help other individuals by sharing some of our supplies that we have accumulated. And, we might want to think about the best way to share with others.

For Christians, sharing charitably falls under the category of “doing good to others”. Of course, as Christians we also have to demonstrate that we are Good Stewards of the gifts that we have been given. I think this means that as we give away any of our supplies, we look for areas where we are filling a real need. However, even non-Christians may have a special interest group that they wish to help or they may want to impact society positively. Depending on what they give away, they might even get a tax credit.

For some individuals, their plans may simply be to sell any of the supplies that they feel they may no longer need. If that works for them, then that is wonderful. Other individuals may have family members to whom they wish to give their survival preparations. However, that may not work.

My wife wanted to pass along her family antiques to her nieces and nephews. However, she’s come to realize that her nieces and nephews have no interest in the family antiques. Similarly, preppers may find that their children have no interest in prepping or only want a small portion of their supplies. This could be due to space limitations or perhaps they have a spouse that doesn’t really agree with prepping principles. So, there are situations where passing along our prepping supplies to family members or friends may not work.

I had planned to pass along some of my firearms to my younger brother-in-law (a former special operator). Unfortunately, when I contacted him about this, I found out that his arthritis is now so bad he has sold his ATV and was in the process of selling off all of his firearms. I also planned to pass along firearms to a friend of mine. Unfortunately, his hearing has gotten so bad he decided to no longer be involved in shooting. So, my plans to reduce my firearm collection were simply rendered moot. As we age, we have to remember that many of our friends and relatives are aging, as well.

This got me thinking about what I had done over the last couple of years as I have reduced some of my survival supplies. I’d like to share that with SurvivalBlog’s readers. As different local, regional, or international disasters have occurred I’ve been able to use my survival supplies to help others.

Where I live there is a fairly large group of individuals that are of Ukrainian ancestry. At the start of the Ukraine war, they decided to collect money, tactical supplies, and medical supplies, and take them to Ukraine. I provided some funding, gave them about half of my medical supplies, and two high-end three-day assault packs. Thinking about the donations: Will I miss the assault packs? – probably not. Will I miss the medical supplies? – I’m not really sure. Will I miss the money? – of course. (But maybe that’s not important).

Of course, this might be an extreme case but there are opportunities to help others all around us. I recently donated some of my cold weather supplies (sleeping bags, blankets, and coats) to North Carolina hurricane victims. Many of the individuals in North Carolina lost their homes and are living in tents – it was starting to get cold up in the mountains. Again, these were spare cold weather supplies that I may or may not ever need them. I suspect that most people that are preppers typically have several layers of supplies to address different problems or situations that may occur over longer periods of time.

Another opportunity presented itself as a group of missionaries from my church decided to go to Columbia to work with individuals who were fleeing from Venezuela. In talking with the missionaries, I realized they had no plans for assuring water quality on their trip. I was able to give them seven Seychelle Extreme Water Filtration Bottles (for “emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and radiological contamination”). This was just another example of seeing situations where passing along or reducing some of my survival preparations could help others.

One area where individuals might consider donating some of their survival supplies might be to the Boy Scouts. Over the years I’ve had two friends that were scoutmasters of troops from low-income areas. I often go to the estate sales or yard sales to look for survival equipment, knives, axes, tools, etc. Occasionally, I found items that I could use, and I would also sometimes find items that would be useful for these scouting troops. When I found appropriate items, I would give them to the scoutmasters.

Other opportunities may occur over time during our day-to-day lives. I used to work for a large industrial employer approximately 25 miles from where I lived. Most of the employees traveled a considerable distance to work for this employer. As I was going to the parking garage one day, a coworker had a flat tire. Unfortunately, he did not have a lug wrench to remove his tire. I should point out he was a former auto mechanic. However, he had no tools in his car. I helped him by loaning him my lug wrench and we changed the tire. Shortly after that occurred another of my coworkers had a flat tire (he had a nail in it) and he wanted to inflate the tire to drive home. I had a pump in my car which I loaned him, and we reinflated his tire. Note: this individual was a former Navy aircraft mechanic, and he had no tools in his car. Both of the individuals realized that they needed to add tools to their cars after these incidents. (And they got some chiding from me.)

Another opportunity developed that allowed me to use my first-aid kit. For years I have kept a relatively extensive first-aid kit in my car. I used to joke that I never used it for me but only to help other people – mostly for nicks or small cuts. However, one day I really had a chance to use the first-aid kit. As I was walking into a restaurant there was a couple with a young girl (maybe five years old) in front of me. They were having a good time, but the young girl broke away from her parents and ran toward the restaurant but unfortunately tripped and tore up her knee. She was crying and screaming and bleeding. As I walked up to her parents as they were trying to console her. I asked if they had a first-aid kit and they replied “no”. I retrieved my first-aid kit from my car and gave them the appropriate supplies so that they could help their daughter. In addition to large Band-Aids, and antiseptic wipes I was surprised to find pain-deadening wipes in the first-aid kit. I didn’t recall that I had the pain-deadening wipes. However, when the parents applied the pain-deadening wipes to the girl’s knee the pain immediately was reduced.

As they were treating their daughter’s injury, the mother looked at the husband and said: “We need to get a first-aid kit for the car”. And he said “yes”. So sometimes our actions can help other people understand the need to be better prepared. Some of the people we meet along the way might be people that we can share our supplies with as well as our desire to be better prepared as challenges arise.

By the way, we usually never know the impact we have on other individuals. However, in this case, I did receive some rather good feedback. After I put my first-aid kit away I went into the restaurant and ended up in the cashier line immediately behind the same parents and child. The child, cradled in her mother’s arms, was still crying. She looked up from her mother’s arms, saw me and immediately stopped crying. She held up the pain-deadening wipes and gave me a big smile to show that she knew I had been the one who had helped her. That was a good day.

Preppers can look for areas where their generosity can have a positive impact on society. Of course, this is after we have built up our own necessary supplies.

The following is a partial listing of different categories of supplies and where they might be donated:

Certainly, the foregoing list is not all-inclusive. This is just to get SurvivalBlog readers thinking about all the different areas that might have uses for some of the items we’ve accumulated over time. And by the way, when we die, someone has to settle our estate. They sell all the stuff that we’ve gathered or try to give it away. You’ve just made their life easier.

Yes, it takes some effort. However, think of this as the ultimate in recycling. All of these pieces of equipment or tools may be going on to help someone that really needs them.