Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #72
Fellow Patriots,
Welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter (PENL) Edition #72. Thanks for stopping by to spend time checking out the PENL. Ms. Lucy and I appreciate your time each week and we hope you gain something from the information provided.
I want to extend an apology to anyone who emailed or called and I haven't answered or returned the call. The past three weeks I have been slammed with family, work, and HFS. I will get back to you as soon as possible. I appreciate your patience very much. There's only so many hours in a day and right now I have been tapped to the max. Thanks for your understanding.
I want to extend a huge "thank you" to the very kind Patriot Sister from Huntsville, AL for her recent book purchases and the extremely kind donation made to HFS. We greatly appreciate your kindness and generosity very much. As many knows already, all proceeds from book sales is donated to a local food bank to help offset cost to feed those in need. All additional donations and proceeds is put back in to HFS for travel cost and training support materials. Thank you for your thoughtfulness ma'am.
For the newcomers to the website, the foundation of Hope for Survival is my book, by the same title. If you would like to a copy of Hope for Survival – How Food, Water, Shelter, and Security, Could Save Your Life, at this link. https://www.hopeforsurvival.com. All proceeds from book sales goes to charity to support a local foodbank in our region. HFS just donated $300 to the foodbank from book proceeds from HFS books sold over the past month. Thank you to everyone who purchased books.
The basic platform for HFS is this:
Hope for Survival Mission – To help individuals and families get prepared.
Hope for Survival Goal – Help people as possible become self-reliant.
The book is a basic framework to get you started in Preparedness, but you should continue to build upon the basic-foundation and processes. The theme, Hope for Survival, is built around the book, with the PENL, the HFS website containing over 350 articles and folders set up for specific topics, online and in-resident training, and Zoom rallies conducted each Thursday evening.
My desire is to help the individual, the family and team, and the community. Why? Who covers your back while you sleep? Who protects you while you work in your garden or tend to livestock or work on your ham radio antenna? Do you plan to sleep with one eye open? How many tasks on your list requires two or more people?
I want to thank you for your support and continued visits to the HFS website. I want to welcome the new readers to the HFS family and our ongoing mission to be prepared and self-reliant.
TRAINING:
Hope for Survival Podcast – One of the areas HFS provides training opportunities is through the HFS YouTube channel. We currently have about 25 short training type Podcast on the Hope for Survival YouTube channel covering numerous topics of interest to help in your preparedness planning. Consider bringing a friend or family member and check it out. If you like what you viewed, hit “like” and consider subscribing so you are notified when I post something new. The number of subscribers and likes helps me determine trends and where folks spend time. The purpose of the YouTube videos is to get information to you, the preparer.
I posted a new HFS YouTube today titled "What are you waiting for?" This has been my theme the past two weeks. I think you can figure out what I'm getting at. Right? Here is the link to the new video: https://youtu.be/2GXDY-WaTpQ
You can visit the Hope for Survival YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxzpwOcydroW96rFBd2Vvw?view_as=subscriber
Thursday Zoom Rallies – HFS continues the Thursday HFS Zoom Virtual rallies weekly. We completed week 20 with a great Zoom meeting which was supported by many. This week we had special guest visiting HFS Zoom to discuss their fifteen years of life in South Africa as missionaries. Thanks to those who participated in the event. It was a very uplifting message the guest brought to the evening. We also covered news from the week, some preparedness topics and answered questions on the topics. Once the short briefs are completed, we have our weekly “Chatter that Matters” session with the attendees.
This coming Thursday, Sept 3, 2020, the HFS Week 21 Zoom will show a video of Bob Griswold from Ready Made Resources discussing communication and night vision equipment to consider for your preparations. We will also have a brief from Mountain Momma on Sprouts and the process of growing them.
If you have interest in attending a Thursday evening “Hope for Survival” Zoom virtual training event please email me at preparedness101@protonmail.com to get on the distribution list for attendance information. This is a great group and platform to learn and build friendships. The virtual conference room access information will not be posted in open on the website for OPSEC reasons.
Virtual Zoom Training - I will be conducting a Saturday morning Zoom training class on Preparedness 101 on Sept 12, 2020 at 10 AM EST. The cost is $25 per person. This class was originally scheduled for a Huntsville, AL group and now must be virtual via Zoom so we are opening it up to anyone wanting the training. This is a 3 hour block of training for the preparer getting started. Here is the course description:
Prep 101 - This is the big one. Many individuals and families focus on food and water only. Being self-supportive and independent of the government system requires the steps included in this course. The course covers most, if not all, key requirements for basic Preparedness. This presentation is a course using different types of equipment as examples. First step is understanding the mindset of the sheep and the sheep dog; and risk management planning. The course then addresses food, water, security and sheltering. This course is not about how to fix food but how to build a food plan for short, medium and long term storage. The water portion covers how to sanitize and different methods of storage. The sheltering block covers both urban and rural. Additionally the course covers bugging in and bugging out. And finally, building a security plan; Defense in Depth. What is the point in saving food and water if you don’t have a plan to protect your family and resources? What are you going to do when your neighbor knocks at your door and says “my children are starving.” The objective of this course is to assist individuals to think “out of the box” and build a total plan that provides, food, water, shelter, and security to help families to survive during manmade and natural disasters.
If you are interested please pay close attention to the HFS website in the coming days for the course information. Or, you can email me at preparedness101@protonmail.com
Moving along …
We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.
Ding, Ding, Ding...."Attention HFS readers..... Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions, and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and author of this site are not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. I do my best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. I take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Sometimes we must pull up our spenders and suck it up. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay.) When all else fails… Keep the faith and always have Hope."
Thoughts for the week –
We had a blessed and awesome week on our end. We had the honor of hosting Ms. Lucy’s sister and family for the week. We don’t get to see them often so its always a treat for our family, especially Ms. Lucy. They are missionaries located in South Africa the past 15 years and recently they agreed to expand their role and not only cover SA but now the entire continent of Africa. Hearing the stories they share on conditions and shortages they find in many African villages ad squatter camps makes one thankful for the life and conditions we have here in America. We hear friends and family talk about the “Jones” kids serving “over there” as missionaries and for many it’s assumed, they are in country x serving their faith. Most fail to take time and realize the sacrifices made and danger zones these folks serve in, 24 X 7. Yes, they are volunteers to serve and that is not my point. I know from my previous life, we have daily threats from evil but also must deal with culture, food, water, politics, and environmental threats looming around. Here in America we often take our days for granted. The comfort of home, family and friends. The refrigerator is stocked, fuel tank full, and we trust the water flowing to our home. Our missionary family members must be on alert 24 x 7 at home and while traveling.
One evening we had the honor of having two of our HFS Patriot neighbors and friends stop by for dinner and share time together with our visiting guest. A big thanks to them for sharing their evening with us. We always enjoy our time together.
Ms. Lucy put out evening spreads of amazing meals and some favorite recipes. Sometimes we go so fast through our day and life that we fail to stop and take time to appreciate some of the built-in blessings to our life. We thoroughly enjoyed the time shared together with family and friends. It’s just not often enough.
Next …
It was a great to