EDS on Display at Edmonton Emergency Preparedness Event

The sun was shining at this year’s ‘Get Ready in the Park’ Emergency Preparedness event in Edmonton on May 9th, as thousands of people visited displays, booths, and presentations put on by various emergency agencies, including The Salvation Army.

Sally Ann gave out hugs and high-fives to the kids, and their parents picked up information about how we respond to emergencies locally, and around the world. Cute mini piggy banks designed to teach kids about donating to charity were given out throughout the day, and the first thousand visitors to our booth got to help us celebrate Donut Day with a free donut! The Salvation Army “Lassies” served donuts on the front lines to the soldiers during WWI, so it was a great opportunity to not only share our history, but our current projects as well.

In addition to all that, our display showcased our Community Response Unit (CRU). This Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) truck is beacon of hope to people in crisis, and allows us to mobilize to disasters and emergencies and provide hot meals, supplies, spiritual care, and more. We have four such CRUs in the Division, Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, and Lethbridge, and all have been used in our responses, most notably during the floods in Southern Alberta in 2013.

Our EDS teams are comprised of trained personnel and can respond to emergency events anywhere needed – locally, nationally, and internationally – providing assistance to those in crisis, and Giving Hope Today.

The donuts and mini piggy banks were a big hit! The piggy banks were given out to kids with the instructions that when they have some spare change, they can save it up make a donation to a charity at Christmas.