Category: Charity

Mental Preparations for Survival, by jc

For many people preparing to survive has become an obsession; a pursuit placed above all else in their lives. Others feel as if survival prep should be more of a priority if they could only afford to do more. Still others feel as if they may have already gone overboard in their preparations. Preparing for survival after TEOTWAWKI can make you feel overwhelmed, under-supplied, overspent, under-funded, over-your-head, or under-the-gun (no pun intended). There are those who have the ability to purchase a retreat, stock it with supplies and equipment for a year or more, and have enough to share with …


Charity in Disaster Situations–Insuring the Cohesion of the “We”

At the risk for sounding preachy, I’d like to re-emphasize the importance of storing extra logistics so that you can be charitable when disaster strikes. Charity is Biblically supported, and makes common sense. (I strongly advise it, regardless of your religious beliefs.) When the Schumer Hits the Fan (SHTF), you will want neighbors that you can count on, not people that you fear or distrust. By dispensing copious charity to your neighbors that did not have the same foresight that you did, you will solidify them as strong allies instead of envious potential enemies. In describing communities, psychologists and sociologists …


Letter Re: The Next Pandemic: Starvation in a Land of Plenty

Sir: Seeing the discussion regarding the gentleman who loaned a flashlight and leaf blower to his ungrateful neighbors, I’d thought I’d share my method of loaning out items. First off, never loan out primary tools. I have three sets [that I’ve designated – mine [primary], for friends, and a lower quality set for loaning. If you’ve never borrowed from me before and I don’t know your “borrowing character”, then you get the cheap set of greasy, grimy tools or the flashlight with weak batteries. If you return them in the state that you borrowed them, you get to borrow them …


Two Letters Re: The Next Pandemic: Starvation in a Land of Plenty

Mr. Rawles: Your “The Next Pandemic” article and he responses to it that you posted really got me thinking. If it all hits the fan, how can I possibly hand out charity to refugees without them just taking it all, by force? Once a bunch of people are in your house, or even in your front yard, they have the advantage. I really want to be generous and charitable, since it is my duty as a Christian. (I have more than 2 tons of wheat, rice. and other stuff stored, for example.) But I don’t want to get cleaned out …


The Next Pandemic: Starvation in a Land of Plenty

At the dawn of the 21st century, we are living in an amazing time of prosperity. Our health care is excellent, our grocery store shelves burgeon with a huge assortment of fresh foods, and our telecommunications systems are lightning fast. We have relatively cheap transportation, and our cities are linked by an elaborate and fairly well-maintained system of roads, rails, canals, seaports, and airports. For the first time in human history, the majority of the world’s population will soon live in cities rather than in the countryside. But the downside to all this abundance is over-complexity, over-specialization, and lengthy supply …


Letter Re: Observations on the Recent Oklahoma Ice Storm

Jim: Well, I just got back online. I had to go up to the roof and thaw the wireless [Internet] antenna with a heat gun. It seems the ice grounds out the antenna. It was an easy fix with my heat gun for heat shrink tubing. More precipitation is on the way but colder. It will probably just be snow. We never lost power but were ready anyway. I have friends with no power and they have been without power for days and no idea when it will be back on. The further out you live, the less chance of …


How to Reply to “When the SHTF, I’m Going Over to Your House”, by Rolf in the Northwest

How many times in the course of a conversation at a meeting, party, event, or whatever, has the subject of emergency preparedness come up, and you make a comment about the having done something (anything) about it in some way, and someone says “the next time [something bad] happens, I’m coming over to your place!” How do you reply? You can’t invite everybody in need, you don’t want to invite parasites, you don’t want to piss off friends and co-workers, and you may not be able to tell if they are joking or serious. However viscerally satisfying a “I got …


Letter Re: Some Good Things Prompted By SurvivalBlog

Jim, The following are some things SurvivalBlog.com has prompted me to do since I began reading it: I’ve had no debt for 20 years, but my meager holdings are now about 1/3 precious metals. Is lead considered a precious metal? 🙂 My freezer is full of elk, whitetail deer, and caribou. I added to my long-term foods during your Safecastle special, but I’m now reviewing the viability of my existing stocks. Like the realtor’s mantra of “location, location, location”, a survivalist’s creed should be “Rotate, rotate, rotate. “ A 10 KW Generac generator is ready to be wired to my …


Letter Re: Preparedness and Charity

Dear Mr Rawles, As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, churches and charities are conducting food drives. Besides being a chance for us to act in a charitable manner to the less fortunate, it is also a terrific opportunity to cycle out some of our food stockpiles. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been donating excess wet-pack canned good (with 2007 expiration dates), and replacing them with new, 2008/2009 expiring items. From my way of looking at things, it is a win-win for the recipients and us — the donors; the hungry are fed, and the shelf life of our food …


Another Perspective on Selecting Barter Goods, by OSOM

Dear Jim: The recent letter on barter goods caused me to sit down and organize my thoughts on the matter. Running a successful retail/wholesale operation, I can see some caveats and analysis that needs further exploration. What’s WRONG with Barter Goods As has been well emphasized before – forget about barter goods until you are squared away for your own logistics. Beyond that, remember that barter goods are much inferior to money or cash in a functioning economy, with a good division of labor. If you need to sell them to raise cash, it will take some effort, and you …


Getting Ready for Survival On a (Broken) Shoestring Budget by J. Cole

Since the mid-1960s, after reading Pat Frank’s novel Alas Babylon, I have been interested in preparing myself for TEOTWAWKI. And, as a child of the 1950s growing up in central Florida, I was taught early to be ready in case of nuclear war, so Frank’s book was not that far-fetched to me. My family was poor by any standard you could compare it to in those days. There was no chance of us ever affording a “bomb shelter” but preparations were made as best we could. We stocked up on canned food and water, we had a central hallway with …


Letter Re: Advice on Ammunition and Precious Metals for Barter?

Mr. Rawles, I recently read your post about your attending a coin show in California. What are your recommendations for getting started in collecting a few gold coins in case the monetary system collapses (I don’t have the foggiest idea how to begin)? How much should I purchase, what types, and in what quantities? I assume that having a couple extra cases of shotgun shells and a few boxes of .22 [rimfire] rounds will also go a long way in a barter environment (not to mention a water filter or two.) Any advice or direction that you can share would …


Letter Re: What We Learned From Hurricane Katrina

Dear Mr. Rawles, The anniversaries of Katrina and Rita offer us an useful opportunity to reflect upon the lessons of profound adversity. As a Texan and a native of Houston, the disaster and its aftermath have reminded me of three important truths. First, we were all cautioned that the time to leave is well before the mass of people thinks that leaving is reasonable. Second, if you do plan to stick around, plan to be on your own for longer than you expected in conditions more harsh than you anticipated. Third, any mass-casualty disaster is going to let loose a …


Letter Re: Questions on Saving, Interest, and Preparation Versus Hoarding,

James:  I offer the following discussion (and answers, I hope) for Christians.   Proposition/assumptions: Good financial planning and even seeming ‘common sense’ dictates that we plan our income and expenditures wisely so as to have the ability to withstand a crisis.  This plan makes sense on an intuitive level, and also can be argued quite easily that as a Christian we have a duty to provide for the life and livelihood of our dependents; and that this provision includes saving money and goods for the event of hard times.  Or does it? Our Christian duty is also unquestionably to be …


Letter Re: Iraqi Artillery, The ARNG/USAR Talent Pool, and a Useful Intelligence

Sir: I read your added notes to the discredited letter from the returning Marine’s father and I can add one more detail. The Iraqis did have 155mm artillery in inventory and we found several South African 155 rounds in country. The South Africans had a very well developed arms industry and they made some of the best artillery and rounds available. They have some advanced 155 rounds that have a greater lethality due to the pre-formed fragments included in their design and some of these have been used/recovered in Iraq. One of the strengths of the Army National Guard (ARNG) …