Please have mercy on me, this is my first post.
I’ve been reading this forum for a while now and really respect the work that you all are doing, both to prepare individually and to help others in their preparations. This site contains a wealth of information that has helped me in too many ways to mention, but now I would like to throw out an idea for you to kick around.
I have been preparing for a while now, and have managed to accumulate significant stores of food and other necessities. While my immediate family is only three people, like many of you I have also begun planning for our parents, siblings, one family that lives nearby, and a family friend that is “slow” now that our immediate needs are covered for one year. But I’m wondering if I can do more.
The idea that I’m toying with is developing a commune of like-minded people in the event that we do have a pandemic. Obviously I would need to start “interviewing” people in my area to determine who would fit in to our structure and offer a skill-set that we need. Reading the posts on this site has convinced me that there are many people who currently live in apartments or other urban arrangements that would greatly benefit from this sort of arrangement. Each person would have to agree to prepare a certain amount of food/medical/other items in an amount that would be adequate to sustain themselves for a given time period. They would not move here unless a pandemic actually did occur. I could agree to provide X tons of wheat/corn/other grains, water, wood for cooking/heating, etc. The benefit to me would be additional hands to help with home defense, water hauling if necessary, cooking, and so on. They would benefit by not having to buy grain in small quantities, worry about water storage in limited space, and other issues that come with living in a larger community.
I’m wondering if this would be a viable idea. Obviously there are some pitfalls that would have to be considered, but I want to be able to help as many as possible if things really do go bad. There are so many people out there with such limited options, but if I can help just two or three maybe it will make a difference. Please critique.
Good luck, and dump
(nowhere near your area, sorry)
farm girl, I think you have a great idea. I have enough to take in a child if that need arises and after a few days in my garage for quarantine would be wonderful thing. I have also prepped enough for my nephew and grandson in addition to my family of 3. We live on a retirement street and most of the people here are widows. I have already thought of the idea of them having a slumber party every evening! Most of the older women will do fine during the day at their own homes but need to band together at one house before dark to protect themselves from being an easy target to looters. They need to stay away from other people etc. but I think it is a workable idea. We would even have room for 1 here at my house. I assume that many of the ladies will be going to children’s homes if they have time but we never know do we? In any case certains types of people would fit right in and certain types will try to destroy any community you make. Choose these people carefully. Your life could depend on it.
why not have those two or three be peolpe that you already know.I have spent a bit of time on 2 intentional communities,The Farm and the Eastwind nutbutters community.It started with a handful of friends who had similar ideas and the hope of reducing the workload.
malachi - good point, one I foolishly assumed was a given. I would target people that I know in my community first. Thinking about inviting people to stay with us has led me to thinking about other things now. What about setting up a “soup kitchen” of sorts if I am able? Strictly basics (wheat gruel, corn mush?) since we are not wealthy people, but it might help larger numbers of people keep body and soul together in a quarantine situation. It takes very little (relatively speaking of course) money to fill a grain bin with wheat, which could always be used to feed the livestock if nothing happens.
Providing water for large numbers would be trickier, but might be manageable. We have been looking at purchasing a solar/wind power setup to provide totally off-grid capability for our home, but given the possibly short timespan, we may not be able to do it in time (again, we are not wealthy people). We have a lake nearby, so maybe we could help by stocking up on bleach to sanitize the water?
I guess at this point in my life I’m starting to look outside of my inner circle. One of the biggest things that gets us past these types of situations seems to be a willingness to help anyone who needs it. How are the rest of you who are pretty well prepared approaching this issue? I’m a bit lost at this point and could use some guidance.
I think that you have the single best idea that the average individual can get involved with.
You need to set out the characteristics of the families that you are willing to have in your commune such as religion, philosophy, education. Will you or not have mixed races, etc. These need to be explicit so that other can elect to or not participate. Each recruit should read your philosophy before they agree to hunker down with you.
You need to be selective in who you invite or you could be in for some serious problems with relations between people. I suggest a primary leader in each of the most important areas: A physician, Military or police, Trained electrical or structural engineer (for design and a world of practical knowledge). These people could then recruit families with skills in their area of expertise.
If you start a commune people will need shelter. Consider the materials to build shelters and their availability. If there is a woods near by consider a saw mill or Alaskan saw mill ($120.00 or so). I would suggest that you have people bring power inverters where possible so they can use their automobiles for power (given that gas is available). In addition, look into gengas generators, they make gas from wood and it is not difficult for a mechanic to covert a car / tractor engine into a wood-gas engine.
Each family would need its own water supply so consider having them bring 50 gal drums or similar.
Look into the use of sawdust toilets and composting human manure. Very cheap and efficient.
You will need a barn or some type of meeting house and rules about coming and going in your own home.
I can give you some leads on some of the things mentioned here and I am sure that many other people on the Forum have other ideas.
Personally, I think that you have THE single best idea for insuring that civilization and its contents will survive.
Glad to help if I can.
farm girl: you have such a great idea that I think I will start a whole section on “How to build a commune.” I will place some stuff here and photos and related things too complicated for the wiki on my university web page. Anyone else interested? People with different areas of expertise could create sections.
Can I help JoeW? I don’t know what kind of areas of expertise you would need. My training was in cultural anthropology and philosophy (only a BA), other than that, I really am just a farm girl.
As a single woman living in an apartment near downtown metropolitan city I am very interested in joining others for mutual survival needs. I already have my OTC meds, everyday prescriptions, tamiflu, antibiotics, and have a start on basic foodstuffs. I grew up on a farm and know how to garden & drive heavy equipment and tractors.. I don’t know how to get in touch with people who are looking for an extra hand when the time comes. I cannot stay in town unless I wanted to catch my death.
Has anyone thought about creating a database for this purpose? I’m sure it could be handled anonymously, so as not to tip off one’s location.. interested parties would meet in a third location and if they were a match more details could be exchanged.
“I really am just a farm girl.”
That’s pretty much like saying I’m just a mom and a homemaker IMO. There are no nobler occupations.
Considerations current intentional communes haven’t had to deal with:
* Controlling (or tracking) outside contact.
* Effectively sequestering or isolating the ill as they are treated.
Not that it is a bad idea by any stretch - just assume that someone will become ill. How will the commune protect itself in that scenario?
My mind is drawn to the Eskimo communities of the north and how badly they were hit by the 1918 devil. Aside from genetic disposition, the best thought I can think of is their “raise the community as a community” mentality. Noble, but flawed when a bug exists that will take advantage of group interaction.
Just keep it in mind.
Heck yeah Farm Girl. Lets start with an outline and fill in from there. Little 5 atl makes an interesting point and we need a way for people to contact each other. I think there should be a way to do that. Something like the dating services do, Though I don’t really know how that is done (old, happily married, and living in the woods. Somebody will know how to do it. Back to the outline: I’ll start but edit in anyway you think is needed.//
A Commune For Survival// Philosophy for our group// ..Who we are// ..What we are doing// ..Our approach to community relations// …..The people who might apply// ..Department heads// ….Physician// ….Security// ….Engineers// Physical Description of the location// ..Basic facilities available// ..What we need to work on now// ..What to bring with you//
You can reach me at Joe_Waldron@comcast.net and we can talk about reorganizing a web site for presentations.
Anymore volunteers? ?
I believe this string is the best yet…. I wrote sort of a paper targeted to my family and good friends about survival thinking. Giving that to my neighbors launched the discussion to test their “openness” to being mutually supportive during a prolonged crisis. Its not perfect, but our doors are open to each other whenever the time comes!
Bravo! =)
Sorry about that outline I though PHP liked // as end of line markers. Lets try the reverse
and see if the is an end of line marker
A Commune For Survival
Outline to be edited.
Philosophy of our group
..Who we are
..What we are doing
..Our approach to community relations
…..The people who might apply
..Department heads
….Physician
….Security
….Engineers
…. Carpenters
…. Mechanics
…. Artisans for barter system
Physical Description of the location
..Basic facilities available
..What we need to work on now
…. People can come and build some things now for their convience
..What to bring with you
General notes to be worked into the outline
Bbs system needed for people to contact
Screening system needed for potential applicants
Water supply\\
Building materials
Reception house / quarantine for late arrivals
Saw dust toilet and disposing of waste
What to bring
.. cash on hand such as $1,000.00 in $20.00 bills.
.. groceries
.. kids games, reading materials
.. engines that can be converted for power stations
.. need to work ownership in some how. If it is a permanent addition to the property it
belongs to the owners when it is over. If it is “movable” it belongs to the resident.
Assessments for overall improvement.
People neds to list the skill sets in their family.
Rules for selection.
Rules for kicking people out.
System for arbitrating disputes.
Medical system who gets treated when, where and how.
Routine duties for security by all able bodied males includes training where needed.
Communications equipment
Relations with government officials.
Community governance structure
Supplies creation and distribution
Foraging trading if needed
Hillbilly Bill at 16:37 - LOL! It’s hard to think of what you do as noble when you are up to your elbows in blood butchering chickens, up to your shoulders in yuck during calving, or picking rocks until your fingers bleed! You are a sweetie for saying that though.
Quartzman at 16:45 - This is exactly the type of thing I would need help with! How can you take care of several while protecting yourself? Would one person be designated “nurse”? Would it be better to be taken care of at home, rather than in an overcrowded hospital? Would the risks be greater if you had six families/individuals as compared to having three? I am presuming that there would be no way for me to effectively quarantine myself from ALL contact with others. Hungry people would probably go out searching for help after all, so some would undoubtedly arrive on my doorstep uninvited. Even after they walk away, they might leave a little bit of virus behind. Would it be better for me (survival-wise) to take measured risks, or is it safer to assume that I can actually achieve full quarantine? I don’t know that I would be able to turn away a starving child even if my life depended on it, so should I focus on ways to minimize risk instead?
Wow! Good start JoeW! At the risk of sounding really stupid, do we work on this here in the forum or somewhere else?
Kay (my wife) and I are already planning on 20+ at our place and I have thought about some of these issues. However, your idea makes me put some serious thought into a real commune and the idea of accepting others (non family).
I also like the idea about starting to form potential communities now by accepting applictions and perhaps getting some things in place before it hits. Melanie had noted that people who live in cities have few options. I had to agree with her and it bothered me. Well, here we are creating an option for those who elect to get started.
There are / will be problems with ownership and things like that. There should be someway to work that out, especially if I note that I can’t buy anything that you build sorta thing.
- - - I forget where but someone pointed out to me that it is not “my wife” or “my husband” as that implies some sort of ownership. She has a name so it is “Kay, my wife” not “my wife Kay.” Just such a neat idea that I thought others might like to hear it. In our house she has always had the more important job as CEO running a small but profitable business (we produced five great adults). Me, I am just one of the boys, and don’t I know it when I get told to “wipe your feet,” and “No, we can’t afford a new computer just for you.” Like BB, I sulk off to the corner and contemplate my belly button.”
JoeW,
That wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented.
Lets keep the outline here until we get it in better shape then we can take sections and work on them as drafts for others to review. The drafts will get posted in the Wiki proper for anyone to edit and or download.
Hopefully we will get some other volunteers. In fact, after a bit I will go ask some of our specialists, such as Eccles on generators, EMTs etc to link some of their work to ours.
A special BBS for linking people together may be needed. Currently I am thinking that listing the philosophy is self limiting. Applicants could have a form to complete and submitted to the Commune. Probably need some neat name for the approach such as FluWiki Commune No. 27 (naw sound to much like Russia) but some such name.
Sounds great Melanie if you have a couple of hundred grand and are a land developer. Are you suggesting that communes are not an appropriate topic for Flu Wiki? Your terness leaves me wondering?
(Off-topic, so I won’t forget: One (probably useless) idea I had was to create urban tribes: we wear badges with a number or animal and we only come near our tribe. If someone in our tribe is ill then there are more precautions. Needs to be simulated on computer. It doesn’t look like it would work. A variation of the idea might be somewhat useful.)
Please go on with this thread. Google for “intentional communities”, “ecovillages” and “global villages”. Suggest this to them. Bring them over to this thread. Let’s get the ball rolling in that area. If they could create an “intentional community in a box” thing, then we might be on to something.
should be tersness not terness.
JoeW,
I’m not suggesting that at all: social arrangements are a highly appropriate topic for the Forum. I just happen to know about co-housing because there are a couple of them here and I’ve looked into them for myself. You may think they are expensive, but for where I live they are so much cheaper than “traditional” housing.
JoeW and Melanie, I think there are aspects of intentional communities that are panflu related, and the other way round. Also, reaching out to them and telling them to look at “our” issue can result in more preparedness. It’s a matter of focus and projection (or something along that line).
(There are threads about small gardens, too.)
Looks like we agree! It just had to be so. :-)
Not sure about badges as they are too similar to the Cross of David that some had to wear during WWII. My son-in-law is a rendezvous person. They have camp out where everyone comes in 1860 dress and gear. These people wear pins, beads and other such things that identify them as members of such and such a clan. That might work. Scottish highlands sort of thing.
Another cute story, Rene, my first wife was from Scotland and the shield for her clan (Montgomery) was a woman with a sword in one hand and a man’s severed head in in the other hand. Maybe Farm Girl could make that a severed chicken head. Hey, feminism has been around awhile. It is a good thing I have always liked independent women because I never saw that shield until after we were married. You gotta know when to keep your mouth shut or you could loose your head.
Thanks lugon, I’ll look into it. Gotta run for now.
Maybe I could set up a separate site to work out the rough draft before we start mucking up this board? Would anyone come visit it and help? This seems to be an awful big topic when you start thinking about it.
Melanie, thanks so much for that link! It sure would be easier to borrow some of their ideas rather than trying to work it all out on our own.
Farm Girl- the deal about a High CFR flu virus- is if one person brings the virus into a close knit comuunity, then the entire community faces being wiped out. It is an entirely different situation than other emergencies.
There are me and my two boys. The wild card is my Ex wife. She will do what ever she decides to do. She is presently a flu denier. I plan to isolate me and the kids. The oldest is 15- so keeping him contained (away from girlfriends and his friends) is going to be a job and a half.
The whole commune thing sounds so great in theory- but the reality is usually differrent. I have lived in communities- years ago.
You will be amazed how everybodies ideas of “safe practice” will be different. You will spend half your time arguing with different people over things that you take for grated. Some people will think that if they pray, they won’t get sick- otheres will take lots of VitC and head to town to go to a dance. They will tell you they are completely safe. etc etc Then you have all the ex partners- the children and families of the people in your community. What if somebodyies daughter and kids flee from a flu hotspot and arrive at your door to see their folks? You cn’t turn her away- what do you do? Let them in and risk getting the flu? What if they decide they nead to go to town and buy some cigarette.
I think your heart is in the right place- but you want to think long and hard about this. If you make the wrong decision- it is not going to just be hurt feelings and social discord. If you have never been part of a conscious community before- now is not the time to be experimenting- IMO
clark, you make some very valid points. It is something that I need to think about carefully, but I wanted to toss out the idea and get ideas from people exactly like you. I’ve never lived in close contact with other people, let alone in a communal-type of situation. I guess the focus I am going for is less of the scenario that you are presenting though. I am interested in trying to help just a few people outside of my inner circle. These hypothetical people would be carefully chosen from the local population, so we could make sure that we were on the same page in regards to safety, etc. We would know each other beforehand, agree to some sort of basic rules and expectations, and they would only come to my home at some agreed upon point, presumably to SIP with me.
Even if we choose to stay at home alone, it seems reasonable to expect that some of us who frequent this site will be unable to completely quarantine ourselves and our families. I don’t know how everyone else’s luck runs, but I know that the minute my family shuts ourselves in completely, there will be some sort of emergency that will draw us back out into public life. Will dad have a heart attack? Maybe someone will have a stroke? How about a case of appendicitis, frostbite, or heatstroke? When we talk about withdrawing completely from the world I am afraid that we are possibly being almost as irrational as people who don’t believe a pandemic is possible. How would you feel if your kid became ill and all the doctors and nurses were SIP? I would be extremely angry to watch my child die because someone wasn’t doing their job. So how can I expect to behave that way while demanding that others take all the risks by maintaining their public lives? This is the single most troubling aspect of prepping for me, and I’ll probably be trying to work it out in my head long after the (possible) pandemic has passed.
But, presuming that nobody gets sick or injured, what could be gained by sharing my space during a pandemic? Well, a few more people that might have died are now around to help rebuild our world. These would be people who are serious about prepping, just limited by their original environment. Could this be a reasonable risk? I don’t know, that’s why I need your help.
Hi Farm Girl,
I am trying to organize an extended family quarantine arrangement “thing”. It seems highly idealistic. I am glad to see others with the same view however. I am remarried and both my husband and I are on excellent terms with the spouses we divorced more than a decade ago. If we convince our semigrown children and the ex. Ma and Pa to live in quarantine with us and some of their relatives you have a semblance of a community with shared values and common purpose. The common children range from 14 to 24. The significant others might also include college buddies, friends or seniors etc. We will be pooling our money to determine whether to rent a large site or to rent additional homes near the children’s primary home. Childsupport is not part of this equation. The rules about leaving and distribution of food, fuel etc are still being formulated. Having additional spouses allows someone to leave the group and return to the neutral location till the threat of infection has passed. If my children won’t shelter with us - some live in other states- it will break my heart. It is difficult to find a SIP scenario that works for divorced families. I would like to hear other families’ plans.
Until the last few years i always lived communally. I raised all my kids in that enviroment and it worked very well. However! the singlemost important thing to make it work is that there absolutely has to be someone with whom final decisions rest. Just my 2 cents
I like the idea of forming communities of flubies and preppers.
They should prepare for a pandemic, but the final formation and
relocation needs only be done when TSTF.
They can make a pandemic planning with quarantaine, storing essentials,
without thinking about pets, old-people-homes, people working outside
and such because these won’t be accepted. They can make the planning for essential workers and people who isolate without much opposition and dissence.
We had earlier threads here.
Clark,you can form communities of like-minded people. Check beforehand
what the expectations and plans of the members are.
There was this: Forum.WhoWantsToJoinAPreppingCommunity (found it at Forum Threads’ Index).
I have been involved with plastering walls since I last posted. Plaster is not an intellectually challenging topic and so I have had some time to think about the commune idea. There are many potential problems as Clark points out. I can “read between the lines” and realize some of the attendant problems. They could be disastrous.
What if we reform the original idea as a FluWiki Camp ground. Somthing like the spiritualists campgrounbds of the 1890s; common interests but not necessarily democratic government. In this scenario the property owners maintain as much control as needed. And there could be a set of rules to join. Like the KOA or some such. As the community forms it can be reorganized based upon the group with ultimate control by the property owners. In this sense, user members would technically be “guests.”
The variation is that they would be invited guests.
Would a system something like that work?
The communes that tended to work best in the 19th century were based on a common religious faith. Experiments like New Harmony and Oneida did not work out nearly as well. Groups like the Mormons and the Millerites moved from cult status to mainstream in half a century or so. Such groups usually are lead by a charismatic. Twentieth century groups like the Davidians and the Jones communes did not work out nearly as well. In my experience, fish, friends and relatives tend to start to smell after about three days.
Isnt the Hog Farm still going. Contact them they wrote the book on communes. Im sure they would be of help
farm girl – at 17:33 Been there, done all that, wore holes in the t-shirt and it’s in the rag drawer.
JMHO, but I think farming ia severely underappreciated in this country. I had a friend who part-owned and managed a dairy farm and Blockbuster would not issue him a card because he was self-employed. Go figure.
HB,
I think that the larger point is that being self-employed is underappreciated.
Melanie: right you are. Will you be visiting your CSA to pick up your food?
Also, did you stuff more suppplies in your spare bedroom because of the Indo scare?
HB,
I was so busy responding to the Indo scare here that I didn’t have time to go to the store. My CSA delivers. I should be getting my first box next week.
happy dance, happy dance
I know for me the last thing I want is additional people around to deal with. My husband & I aren’t loners but come evening we really enjoy the company of each other but we don’t want others around. We have taken people in before and couldn’t wait until they left. I have never found even extended family that can easily blend into our home. Then once they are in, how do you get them out if it isn’t working. I use to idealistically believe it was possible but now I know it would add to much stress. I’ll give handouts on my terms but nobody is moving on to our land.
Melanie – at 21:43 I know that many of them deliver, but some also let you come and pick your own. You really do get a lot of food for the money.
Mine gives me the option to go and pick. The stawberries should be ready in a week:-)
Now that definitely is worth a Happy Dance!
I know it’s off topic, but I just have to respond to JoeW’s comment @ 17:49. I applaud your sensitivity regarding references to Kay, your wife! I, regrettably, was always referred to as THE wife. I am quite sure you understand why that is probably one of the reasons I am now reffered to as the EX-wife.
Also, please, can we not use a chicken head on our shields?
Bump. Chicken heads?!?
Melanie, I bet you’ve told your CSA about panflu. I bet they are telling other CSA in their network. I bet they have a plan to deliver seeds and other stuff to a million SIP people, making a fair profit. I bet they are creating or strengthening a network to foster rapid learning and mutual help with growing more food for more people more locally.
Do you need help with that? There are a few “green thumbs” around here. Shall we self-organise and write a piece or a letter that can be shared with those groups?
This might save a million lives or more. What are we doing and what would be a good blitzkrieg next-step? funny how these never-used words pop up out of the blue … this is what sleep deprivation does to me
btw, for those who don’t know, CSA means Community supported agriculture. It might make sense to have that now, as a first step towards communal SIP (shelter in place). It might work in towns: a group of neighbours learn and grow food for each other, and they go out only to each other’s homes, minimizing contact with other tribes.
JoeW, I think it might work but it depends on the details more than on the overall organisation. I think we should form a test-community in a simulated pandemic and see how it works. Maybe you can even get some funding from government or from a magazine which regularly reports about the project. We had some earlier threads here which I can search, if you want.
Consider a new and better understanding of the Bible as your commune’s philosophy. In his book “The Revolution of Hope: Toward A Humanized Technology” (1968), Erich Fromm, a well known psychoanalyst and social philosopher, recognized the need for “the emergence of new forms of psychospiritual orientation and devotion, which are equivalents of the religious systems of the past” as necessary to overcome the weaknesses in man’s character and produce a society where “love and integrity are possible.” Let me also suggest you consider vegetarianism as the diet of any new religion you establish. If interpreted correctly, the Bible supports it. You might also consider the literature on Israel’s “kibbutz” experience. They made communal living work successfully for awhile.
it’s not a religious movement.
Putting up shelters takes materials, skills and TIME which you may not have….My sister who is prepping a remote 30 acre farm in the northwest bought several used camp trailers and hauled them down the rugged dirt road to her property..They are to be used as housing should this pandemic explode,( as in that ABC movie a few weeks back)and relatives fleeing the cities suddenly show up….They can be had from $800 or so to 4 or 5 thousand…..
You might want to consider making it a religious movement for the sake of future survival if the bird flu mutates and causes a pandemic with high enough casualties to disrupt and shutdown civilization as some of the specialists say is possible. You would think we would learn are lessons and design a new way of life to prevent the possibility of another such disaster. Communal living and vegetarianism might be the right solution. You never know, God might put His blessing on it if done right.
You all have given me so many new ideas. Thank you. I think it might be helpful to clarify something though: I really don’t want to start a commune, I don’t like people that much. I am interested in playing with the idea of providing communal living space to a few selected people who would otherwise be forced to tough it out in a more challenging environment (apartment, condo, etc.)I don’t want them hanging around forever, just until the threat has passed.
Starting a new religion is a neat idea, but nobody will ever mistake me for a prophet or charismatic type of person, so it probably isn’t going to be a relevant topic. Vegetarianism would be great for me, but I’d have to throw the hubby and kid out because they will eat almost anything, especially if it happens to moo, cluck, or oink. I’d miss them terribly, so meat will have to be on the menu at our house. I do appreciate these ideas though, and maybe someone else will find them useful.
anonymous at 20:33 - I’ve been thinking about that. We have a used mobile home sales place up the road. A trailer house in rough shape (hunting cabin quality) can be purchased for around $1000. We could never get approval to put one out on our land though, and Minnesota winters are brutal so we would have a huge cost to heat the thing. I guess in my particular situation we would have to invite a few people to share our home. We have 5 bedrooms and only 3 people, so in theory we could shoehorn 3 more people/couples into the house. But thinking about both ways of adding people is good, and you are right, I sure wouldn’t want to be trying to nail together some sort of shack at the last minute.
Hi Farm Girl If you don’t like people that much (I think I must be like that to), you probably shouldn’t do this. It sounds like H5N1 is going to be an ongoing situation- probably for years. Maybe if you could set up completely separate living situations.
My advice would be to shelter in place just you and your family for the first wave or two (if there is a pandemic) and see what the numbers are - attack rate and case fatality rate. Then start deciding what you can do to help. We will know enough to make real decisions midway into a pandemic. Right now we are all just floundering around- scaring the bejesus out of ourselves and each other- or being optomistic.
Hi farm girl! I think you are so generous and brave and I hope you find the right solution for you and your family. I’ve had two thoughts that you might like to consider: Do you have a facility nearby that houses displaced children? Perhaps you could meet with the administrators, get you and your family certified as foster parents before TSHTF, and maybe even get to know a few kids that would be suitable for the arrangements you can provide.
Secondly, I imagine there are older retirees who live alone in their own homes or retirement complexes who might very much welcome a family environment they could retreat to; many retired folks love being able to continue contributing their knowledge and skills where it is appreciated. By volunteering a few hours at a senior center, you’d have the chance to meet and get to know some who would be grateful for this opportunity.
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