June 4, 2024 -
July 27, 2024
North Carolina Governor's Page Service Project (25 hours)
Local Service, Global Impact
SKILLS DEVELOPED
Collaboration, Communication, Problem solving, Civic literacy and citizenship, Leadership
SUMMARY
Reflection
While planning and doing this event, I realized that not everyone knows the current condition of their smoke alarm and that many people are at a higher risk for fires and don’t even know it. I also learned that I enjoy planning these events and educating people on how to safely leave their homes during a fire. Chief Thomas of Benhaven FD informed me of other high risk areas in Harnett county so I am planning to collaborate with Red Cross on another smoke alarm blitz for those areas.
Project Impact
Mobile homes are at the highest risk for home fires, and many people living in mobile homes do not know that. Harnett county has also suffered multiple fire related fatalities with a good number of those being mobile homes. I chose the area of Nicole drive due to the amount of mobile homes in the area and the fact that many mobile homes that I have visited in the past did not have working smoke detectors, which can be very dangerous. By installing free alarms, the residents of those homes do not have to worry about replacing their alarms for another ten years and will now be able to clearly hear the alarms when they go off. Not only did we install alarms, we educated them on how to map out their home and select the best route of escape so that they can be more efficient when escaping from a fire. By the end of the day we had visited 21 homes, installed 27 alarms, and served 83 people. We also took down the information of any residents who didn’t need alarms installed so we could contact them about installing alarms in the future. This event allowed the residents to have free alarms that were good for another 10 years. They also learned about how to get their loved ones with disabilities out safer and what items in their homes could start fires and how to manage those items. Not only did they learn about fire safety, they also learned how to prepare for hurricanes and floods.
PROJECTS TASKS
Page Week
10.00 hours participating in an awareness event | Curiosity
A summer program and opportunity for youth to learn more about how the state government works while creating a policy proposal and planning a community service project
Project Planning
4.00 hours leading an initiative | Connectedness
I met with Lori Nieves and Jaian Davidson of the Red Cross chapter in Fayetteville over the past 2 weeks to prepare and plan a smoke alarm blitz in Harnett county in collaboration with the Benhaven Fire department. A smoke alarm blitz is an event where you pre canvas a neighborhood advertising the smoke alarm installations, then the next week you go back and visit any homes that asked to have smoke alarms installed and you help install them/ educate the homeowners about fire safety. The alarms are completely free and they are good for 10 years
Publicity
2.00 hours leading an initiative | Connectedness
Today my me and my friends and partners from the Red Cross visited the area where we will be installing alarms and put up door hangers letting the homeowners know that we will be installing free alarms on Saturday
Do the Project
5.00 hours leading an initiative | Connectedness
On Saturday the Red Cross, benhaven FD and myself went out to Nicole drive to install smoke alarms and educate the home owners on how to make a fire escape plan and how to prepare for other natural disasters. In total, we visited 21 homes, installed 27 alarms, and served 83 people in the Nicole drive area (including homeowners and anyone else living in the homes). I was very pleased with our work because we surpassed our initial goal and installed the most alarms and visited the most homes I’ve ever visited while doing these events. Thank you again to the Red Cross and Benhaven FD for partnering with me on this project and making our community a better and safer place! I hope to plan more of these activities for my community in the future!
Project Outcomes & Reflection
1.00 hour leading an initiative | Connectedness
While doing this project, I never realized how many people did not know if their smoke detectors were working nor if they needed to be replaced. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to help others in my community and to help make their homes safer. While at a previous event in Hope Mills, I learned that mobile homes tend to be at significantly higher risk for fires so I made sure to make neighborhoods with mobile homes a priority while planning this event. This project meant a lot to me because Harnett county has suffered from multiple fire related fatalities in the last several months and I wanted to contribute to preventing any more fatalities
Climate & Wildlife
Health
Hunger & Homelessness
