[Archived] Be Ready, Alexandria! Emergency Preparedness Campaign Will be Launched

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

For Immediate Release
August 31, 2004
PIO 208-04/bg

Be Ready, Alexandria!
Emergency Preparedness Campaign Will be Launched

Plans are underway for the City of Alexandria's year-long emergency preparedness campaign called Be Ready, Alexandria! The education effort will be launched on Thursday, Sept, 9, 6 pm, at Founders Park, located on Union Street between Oronoco and Queen Streets. Members of the City Council, Citizen Corps Council, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Alexandria Fire Department, civic associations and the Alexandria Jaycees will participate. Following kickoff ceremonies, emergency preparedness information will be distributed door-to-door. Over the next several months and into 2005, information will be distributed door to door by volunteers to every home and business in Alexandria. Neighborhood groups, civic organizations, business groups and families who would like to volunteer to work on the Be Ready, Alexandria! campaign, or become a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, should call 703.838.5594 and leave a contact name and number.

On Saturday, Sept. 11, the third anniversary of the 911 terrorist attacks, volunteers and the Red Cross will distribute emergency preparedness literature at the Potomac Yard Retail Center on Jefferson Davis Highway. Included in the literature will be a checklist of safety items every household should have. From 10 am to 2 pm, representatives from the Alexandria Citizen Corps Council, CERT, the Alexandria Chapter of the American Red Cross, other organizations will distribute instructions to shoppers about creating a home and business preparedness kit. Potomac Yard merchants will assist shoppers in locating preparedness kit items in their stores.

On Sept. 10 at noon, a 911 remembrance is scheduled for City employees on Market Square in front of City Hall.