Thought ONE: Yellow Book wastes so much paper printing the same stuff in a different way three times a year where I live. Thought TWO: A boss once said, "Don't bring a problem into my office without a solution". Thought THREE - "Information Chain": With those two thoughts to start with and the idea that people need disaster preparedness and Response, etc, we'll start with an information chain that I learned at a job I once had. The basis was, when the Regional Mgr. called, rather than him having to call every store, we (the store managers) each had only ONE store to call and that was the very next store in the list. If a store did not get information, warnings or updates in a timely manner, we knew where the chain was broken. Because no one wanted to break the chain and look like an idiot, the information almost always made the rounds as the LAST PERSON/STORE had to call the Regional Manager to relay the same message at the beginning. Alright, so, NOW we have a Cause, a Concept and a Means. Withdraw the paper that Yellow Book is using for at least ONE of it's duplicate books and get them to donate it to THIS Cause... Thought FOUR - "Congregational Respite": The Alzheimers Association began a project called "Congregational Respite" for Caregivers - If you or your family is giving care to another member of your family, you are a care giver. If your family member has Alzheimers, then you are a caregiver, 24/7. Congregational Respite was created for those giving care to those suffering with Alzheimer's but the Alzheimers Assn. quickly found out that it could and would be used to help ANY caregiver. 'Congregational' relates to a church congregation. The church is presented with the concept, and people in the church volunteer one or as many talents or gifts as they can spare to caregivers ONCE A MONTH. Now, as a recipe, we post 'thought two' at eye level for our inspiration. We lay 'thought one' to the side for the finished product. Then we mix thoughts 2-4 together and we (become a) TITLE our project: National Disaster Response and Preparedness NEIGHBOR. So, I still live in a community where if something happens to someone in our community, and there is distress...and there's anything, we, as neighbors can do about it, we do. Mostly, we have taken up money and given food as God has blessed. So, if a neighboring county has needs, this book and this plan would be, now don't get all bent, the surrounding counties, AS GOD HAS BLESSED, would take their part in responding to and rebuilding whatever disaster took place until - Until the disaster was resolved and things back to normal as much as humanly possible. Now, if you would look closely - the response and rebuilding has always been the responsibility of the local, city, then state government. And when that was clearly not enough to get the job done, the Federal government. And that all works just fine... up until, New Orleans... Somebody hic-cupped, broke the chain, etc. And well, I just don't see us digging out from it...what I mean by that is, I, in my heart of hearts, don't see disasters making themselves EASIER on us, but harder and harder...more complicated, more expensive. Heck, you can't send your kid to school anymore and expect them to have enough toilet paper, much less writing and study supplies... Okay, so I don't want to preach about how bad it is. What I DO want to do is put a plan in place, a VOLUNTEER Plan, before we need it, BEFORE the disaster... A NATIONAL Plan, who to call, the information chain, the responsibility chain, the community leaders, the county leaders, etc. All this information is to go into the BOOK. Red Cross, United Way, are HUGE Volunteer organizations that organize volunteers, raise and handle funds, but this would not be that kind of Organization... Anybody with a phone and a heart would be useful, the same as congregational respite... Those volunteering would play TAG once a month. The Community Leader THAT MONTH would take ONE DAY and implement his or her information chain. Whoever volunteered to head up parts of the rebuilding phase, would, once a month, locate other volunteers, goods and services and would update an internet log on the price of lumber and the availability in that area...ETCETTERA, do you see what I'm saying??? The person(s) volunteering for disaster relief in a medical way would update an internet log containing information about local hospitals, medical supplies, usage, availability, etc. NATIONALLY, the heads of each of these VOLUNTEER COMMITIES would report to Homeland Security, monthly. Homeland Security, would, in turn, in the event of a single or multiple disasters be able to report and command resources as needed, rather than having to fully depend on our Armed Forces OR the Federal Government to completely stabilize an area or Region. All Volunteer Groups would still exist and be utilized, but it would help them to be more focused... And - AND, the volunteers would ALREADY be in the right places without having to wait, like hearing a fire alarm go off for a Firefighter... We, like they, would respond immediatley, with food, shelter, resources, information, etc. I'm sure someone already has this concept in place, but NOT IN A VOLUNTEER CAPACITY. I am titling it here, "National Disaster Response and Preparedness NEIGHBOR" and all of America would receive a yearly copy same as our PHONE BOOKS... It is the Code "RED Book". Somebody OUT THERE HAS THE RESOURCES TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!! DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU DO. We alive today may never need. But our children and our grandchildren will rely on it.