The town residents enjoy a 360 degree view of mountains, rivers, plains and spectacular coulees without a way to access and enjoy these spots safely. With the support of residents and city and county government, a committee was formed in 2011 to help make a change.

A proposal for an exciting eight mile route, was mapped and broken into segments, all around and through Cut Bank. It would provide access to an untapped world many in the community had never seen. A segment of the trail would be designated a safe route through town to access public recreation spots. The scenery and access are two immediate benefits of the effort, but the trail would also promote Cut Bank as a better place to live, work and visit for generations to come.

This endeavor was a lofty goal, with an immense price tag. But the determination of this small town is as big as the 27 foot concrete penguin landmark that greets visitors as they enter the community.

The trail committee heard about the State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant program. Fortunately, Cut Bank was one the 40 winners from across the country in 2015 to win the grant.

Cut Bank could move forward with the most exciting section of the walking trail. This is due to the combination of volunteers, donated materials, and the $25,000 grant. The Coulee Route is a visually stunning 1.5 mile section of trail that follows the natural valley carved out by Cut Bank Creek.

The new paths carved through the Cut Bank community allow residents the opportunity to get out and walk, explore, and be active. “All you need is a pair of shoes,” says Burke McCormick, Route Chairman, Cut Bank Trail.

Michael Howard had one mission when he began painting murals twenty years ago; combat the graffiti that had sprung up around his neighborhood near Los Angeles,California. Almost 1,000 murals later, Michael’s mission has evolved into much more than simply painting over unwelcomed graffiti. Today, his mission is to use art as a way to empower youth to improve their communities by creating powerful and impactful murals with a message.

Founded by Michael in 1993, Operation Clean Slate (OCS) works throughout Southern California to provide students with a platform to artistically express themselves while enhancing their community. These messages are thoughtfully designed and are part of vibrantly colored murals placed in schools, community centers and many other locations. OCS’s murals promote topics like safe driving, healthy eating, water conservation and encouraging activity and exercise.

With the support of State Farm, OCS recently completed two new murals encouraging students and their communities to drive safely. The murals are located at Valley High School in Santa Ana, CA and at the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park, CA.

OCS continues to transform blank walls, creating beautiful murals with powerful messages. They are also expanding their work to broaden the number of people and communities impacted by the murals.

Valley High School, Santa Ana, CA

Valley High School alumni and a current UC Berkeley student, Dulce Lopez designed a recently completed mural at her alma mater, Valley High School in Santa Ana, CA. The design includes the message, “Texting…It Can Wait. Don’t text your life away.”

As students and volunteers painted the mural, a number of people walked by and wondered what was being created. One student even stopped and asked, “Don’t text your life away? What does that mean?” That’s the power of these murals. They have the ability to get people thinking about choices that could positively impact their life.

Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park, CA

At the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park, CA, students carefully painted a mural at their community center. Inside, the students were being taught about road safety. OCS partnered with Impact Teen Drivers to educate students about making positive choices as they become new drivers. Their mural reads, “It’s not worth the hype to drive and type.”

The mural’s impact extends beyond the education happening inside the center, but rather to the community at large. “Operation Clean Slate’s artwork not only enhances the visual appeal of the structure, but carries a powerful and impactful message.” said California State Senator, Tony Mendoza. “The mural at the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park will serve as a daily reminder to practice safe driving habits, and will hopefully drive meaningful conversations in the community and among young people that will help improve road safety.”

Want to ensure a family life filled with all the good stuff - adventure, security and love? Gather your loved ones together and pick up a pen.

Here’s a time-honored way to get things done: sit down, write down everything you need to accomplish, then cross items off as you go. A list is a great way to manage the little stuff. But what about the big stuff? Forget about making your dentist appointment or getting the car serviced - what about traveling to Europe, adopting a child, buying a second home? After all, someday when you look back on your life, you won’t be thinking about your forgotten hair appointment. You’ll want to be sure that you accomplished the things that help shape who you are - not just as a person but as a family.

Enter the family bucket list - a list of things you want to make sure get done before it’s too late. It’s like your life’s to-do list, but it’s not just yours, it’s your family’s. And it’s not about getting through the day; it’s about prioritizing your life for years to come. The benefits go beyond planning for tomorrow though; when a family comes together as a unit to pinpoint what’s important, dreams converge, and intimacy builds. We talked to three families who used bucket lists to map out their family’s shared future - and to foster closeness in the here and now.

The Krupickas: Kayak at the Dunes

A couple years ago, Lara Krupicka of Chicago discovered that her then 12-year-old daughter had a natural talent. “She’d had a good first season in track, and people were like, “Wait, she did that well in her basketball shoes?” Lara laughs. “So we bought her track spikes as a Christmas gift.” A few months later, Lara’s daughter announced a goal - she wanted to break the high school track record. Then, lo and behold, she did it - while still in junior high.

Lara is understandably proud of her daughter’s achievements, but she doesn’t see them happening by accident, or in a vacuum. “To see her achieve her goal wasn’t just meaningful to her; it was meaningful to us,” she explains. “It struck me that in our family there was an amazing dynamic happening when one of us went after something particularly important, I saw how some of our goals would stretch across our family and realized we need to embrace that."

So Lara and her family sat down and began brainstorming - what did they want as individuals? What did they want as a family? And where did these hopes and dreams overlap? Lara says articulating hopes and dreams wasn’t new for her family, but the exercise of writing them down was.

“Last fall was the first time we got this in writing, but using that language and seizing those opportunities - I can’t even pinpoint where that started,” she says. The magic was in the intention - the sense of pride that came with identifying a goal and accomplishing it rather than simply hoping that something would happen.

Thus inspired, Lara didn’t stop there. From her family bucket lists she developed a family bucket list manifesto, with calls for the reader to “Savor the anticipation of a goal,” “Plan to amaze yourself,” and crucially, “Be spontaneous, but plan often.” Out of this grew her book Family Bucket Lists: Bring More Fun, Adventure & Camaraderie into Every Day.

Despite the emphasis on family, Lara advises people to write their own individual lists prior to coming together as a group. “Start your own list first, and have your kids get their bucket list going. There’s a synergy that happens,” she explains. “The family list grows out of that.”

Lara points out that as they cross things off their list, the kids naturally become more engaged. “It’s a push-pull. Writing down our goals allows my husband and I to focus on some deficits with our kids-and our kids learn that we’re serious about it!” One of the items on their list was to go kayaking at Sleeping Bear Dunes-which they made happen last summer. “The more adventures we do, the more we expose them to, the more they’ve grown to embrace it.”

The Thomsens: Travel to Europe

When Kathy Thomsen first married her husband, Jim, they lived in a tiny apartment with no furniture. They’d pull out their jar of loose change, count in the middle of their floor, and that would tell them what they could afford to do that weekend. To say they were cash poor may be an understatement. But they were rich in dreams, which is why they began their own bucket list very early on - on and old-school yellow notepad.

“We wrote it while were expecting our first child,” Kathy recalls. “Jim has heard about this idea of writing down 101 lifetime goals. We both liked the concept of making a list. Where are we going from here? What do we want our family, our life, to look like? The idea was that if you’re intentional about writing things down, you’re more likely to see where it will take you.”

Now Kathy and Jim have been married more than a quarter century, and on their 25th wedding anniversary they decided it would be fun to pull out that old list. “It’s funny. Some entries were big like travel to Europe. But some of them were ‘Buy a crib’!” The list was almost like a time capsule, giving a rare window into the concerns that held sway so long ago.

“What was cool was that while we wrote things like, ‘I want to learn how to sail’ or ‘I want to go to these countries someday,’ we also came up with things like ‘I want to paint the nursery.’ Those might seem silly, but they were important - we needed to prepare for the family.”

Some of their entries felt pie-in-the-sky at the time. “We wrote things like, have a four-bedroom home, travel to several countries, spend time in the mountains, have a second home,” Kathy recalls. “We even put down, ‘Have a grand piano,’ well, we have one now!” But they also donate money to their college and church and give generously to benefit others. “Each year we decide ahead of time which organizations we want to give to so we can plan for it.”

They also managed to make it to their travel destination, purchase a second home in the mountains, and live in a large home they built themselves. This was all possible, Kathy says, because peppered among the fantasies on that first list were some nitty-gritty financial goals too.

“Jim made sure to include, ‘Have x amount of money in the bank,”’ she points out. “When we think back to those first few years, when we had so little-just the two of us in this tiny apartment - compared with these last few years, we live a very nice lifestyle now that we never imagined back then.” But because they sat down to write their bucket list, they did imagine it. Now that they’ve achieved it they find themselves looking ahead to the next 25 years. “We still want to be intentional about challenging ourselves and doing stimulating things, but accumulating things is not as important anymore,” Kathy reflects. “Being financially stable is always important, of course, but now, as our kids get ready for college, we’re talking about downsizing. We built this house six years ago, and it’s enormous. Now we’re thinking maybe we can sell this and live somewhere else! We’re more interested in freedom.

What is on your family bucket list? Sending kids to college? Traveling somewhere new each year? Saving for retirement? Make the most of every life experience and those memories that last a lifetime and build a lasting legacy.

Related: The Family Bucket List Infographic

Financial Wellness Tips for a Positive Financial Future - State Farm®

We asked 3,000 random Americans: “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve driven around with in your vehicle’s trunk?”

Here’s what they said:

1. “60 Watermelons”

Because that’s how he rolls.

2. “500 Leis”

Because you never know when a party could spontaneously break out.

3. “A Shark”

So that’s what he meant when he said his car fishtails.

4. “A Unicycle”

How’s that for a “spare tire?”

5. “An Astronaut Suit”

When the forecast calls for 0% chance of gravity.

6. “Suit of Armor”

Perfect for the Renaissance man in your life.

7. “100 VCRs”

Hey, some people are convinced 8-tracks will make a comeback, too.

8. “400 Pounds of Coffee”

For those mornings when that “Venti” isn’t Venti enough.

9. “Pink Flamingoes”

Don’t tell the garden gnomes. They get jealous when their lawn mates get to go for a ride.

10. “Pirate Hats”

Her other car’s a schooner.

11. “A Gorilla Suit”

Because you want to be dressed appropriately when meeting friends for a bite.

12. “Bagpipes”

In case there’s nothing good on the radio.

13. “Mannequin”

Because your hair stylist appreciates when you show up to your appointment with visual aids.

Even on a relatively short trip, despite your climate, you could find yourself stranded for several hours. Be sure you have the proper emergency items in your trunk to stay safe until help arrives.

What came next, though, was unexpected.

It was a day that started like any other day. School was out. Summer was just getting underway. Seventeen year-old Brian Garlock awoke early and went to his summer job cleaning rental properties with his friend in Pineville, North Carolina.

Just before noon on this ordinary Thursday, following behind his friend's car, Brian turned left - not realizing there was a truck driving toward him. The truck hit Brian’s car on the driver’s side door with an impact so great his car spun 180 degrees. He was then struck by another pick-up truck. Although he was rushed by ambulance to the nearest hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to the main trauma center in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina; Brian’s surgeon notified his family he did not survive.

Tammy’s Devastating Discovery

Nine days after an accident that changed Brian’s family forever, his parents had the unimaginable responsibility of dealing with what remained of Brian’s car. They had given it to him one week prior to the crash that claimed his life. As his mother, Tammy, was diligently searching to get everything from the car that had to do with her child, she spotted something wedged behind what used to be the driver’s-side area. Tammy was determined to retrieve the item. Crawling through twisted metal and over broken glass, what she found was Brian’s cell phone - still intact.

She took the phone home and plugged it in to charge. What she discovered after turning on the phone was a devastating truth. At the time Brian was making that left-hand turn behind his friend’s car, he was also attempting to call his girlfriend to let her know he was running late for their lunch. He never saw the truck barreling down on him. Brian Garlock was fatally distracted in that instant by his cell phone. His family will never be the same. The grief of losing him continues.

An Instant Message Reminder

Tammy Garlock is now on a mission to save others from experiencing the type of tragedy her family went through. She is a strong advocate for teen driver safety. She collaborates with safety partners, including State Farm. She also speaks at schools and driver’s education classes.

She hopes the pink and black “Remember Brian” bracelets created in her son’s memory will serve as an instant message of a different kind. Tammy encourages drivers to remember how quickly things can go wrong when reaching for, or using a phone, while driving.

“Make a better choice than my son did that day. The life you end up saving could very well be your own.”

You can learn more about Tammy’s efforts and make a pledge to stop using your phone while driving on her website, DyingChangesEverything.org.

With Who Let the Dogs Out blaring in the gymnasium and the friendly Neigh Bear dancing to the music, State Farm Fire Claim Representative Carolyn Pitre and her band of puppeteers take the stage at LaSalle Elementary in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in hopes of preventing dog bite injuries with children.

For nearly 15 years, this dog bite program has taught thousands of children dog safety. It all started with an old refrigerator box and the handy State Farm educational booklet “Fido – Friend or Foe?” Over the years, with the help of Carolyn’s dad, the puppets have earned a real stage and continue to develop their program. As a former school teacher, Carolyn feels right at home in front of 200 pre-K to first graders and loves carrying on this message year after year.

“It’s all about education and prevention. I’ve worked some really bad dog bite claims over the years, and we want to do our part to educate little ones on safety with dogs,” states Carolyn.

Careful Clara (Karen Hope), Safety Sam (Troy Alfred) and Watchful Willy (Barry Hunter) teach the kids all types of dog etiquette and safety. The kids learn how to let the dog smell their fist first like a “hand shake,” and how to roll up into a ball in case a dog does attack. With help from Cassandra Whitty and Marvin Snyder, the practice session helps to ensure that all the kids are prepared to interact safely with dogs. Karen, Troy, Barry, Cassandra and Marvin all know the facts about dog safety and share the knowledge they’ve learned on the job at State Farm.

Whether a dog is a family friend or a stray on the street, the kids of LaSalle Elementary leave the State Farm puppet show each year with knowledge that could save their life.

A hail research field study isn’t exactly anyone’s idea of romantic. Swapping candle lit dinners for life on the road chasing storms probably wouldn’t work for most couples. But Dr. Tanya Brown and Dr. Ian Giammanco are anything but conventional.

Dr. Tanya Brown is the lead research engineer and director of hail research for the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). She conducts a major field study on hailstorms with a team that includes lead research meteorologist Dr. Ian Giammanco.

In addition to their research, the pair also happens to be dating.

Giammanco and Brown met while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, where they worked on several thunderstorm and hurricane field research projects. Since then, amid week-long beef jerky binges and of course the storms, Giammanco and Brown found some common ground.

The Research

IBHS develops safety research that can be translated into real world solutions, and the hail study is no exception. Giammanco and Brown seek to improve weather forecasts and influence the design of roofing products to be better prepared for hail damage.

Their hope is to leverage this study to decrease property losses caused by hail. The the work is being done in the central plain region of the United States. They study hail characteristics such as size, shape, density and hardness, so they can come as close as possible to Mother nature when they produce hailstones at the IBHS Research Center.

Love at First Hail

According to Brown, “We definitely did not have a love at first site kind of relationship. We had known each other for at least a year before we really ever had a conversation more than just saying hi while passing in the hallway.”

At the time they met, years before the hail field study had begun, they realized they both had a passion for field research.

It takes a special kind of love not only to be research partners, but also life partners. Brown explains, “I’d say our dedication to field work is what really ties us together.”

Bonded by a common goal that will eventually benefit the common good , their relationship is the perfect blend of uniqueness. “There’s not a lot of people out there that will basically give up their whole life for weeks or even months at a time to live in crummy hotels and eat fast food every meal of every day, not to mention braving the wind, hail, rain and storm surge, and actually enjoy doing it and get to do it with their significant other,” says Brown.

Benefits of the Study

The pair remains motivated; they believe in the good that this study will be able to produce. According to IBHS, as the population increases and the spacing between buildings decrease, there has been a significant uptick in damage due to hailstorms. In fact, from 1999 to 2011 hail was the number one cause of losses for Texas homeowners coming in at $10.4 billion according to The Texas Department of Insurance.

State Farm supports the work of Dr. Brown and Dr. Giammanco and believes in the good that can come from this kind of research. Besides studying hail, researchers also test hail resistant roofing material in the hopes of preventing damage. The field study also seeks to improve weather forecast models and hail detection.

Ups and Downs

But working with a loved one isn’t always easy, “we do disagree sometimes about the project, but ultimately we will arrive at what is best for the project, and that is a big reason that we’ve been so successful,” Giammanco says.

Ultimately their differences complement each other, Giammanco explains, “Tanya makes sure that I let things go when I need to so that I don’t obsess about things like a missed forecast or not enough data.”

Brown explains further, “We have worked together for so long that we really have a natural rhythm, and each take advantage of each other’s strengths. There are a lot of things I don’t have to worry about taking care of because I know he’s got my back and vice-versa. It makes us really efficient and successful.”

The most difficult part of their nomadic relationship is having them both away from home at the same time, “there’s no one there to check the mail, water and cut the grass, and most importantly, take care of my beagles,” Brown says.

But they know they are meant to be together. “Tanya is the only girl I know who would swim and wade through storm surge water to retrieve instrumentation during a field project, so she is the girl for me!” Giammanco says.

The Impact

With all the good Brown and Giammanco hoped would come out of their studying of severe weather, love was not what they expected, but they’re glad it did. Even still, they remain dedicated and focused on their work, Brown says, “We definitely push each other to achieve success and fill in each other’s gaps, which makes us well-suited to tackling such a complex issue such as hail. We’re definitely looking forward to continuing our research partnership both in the field and in the lab, and look forward to making a huge impact in the coming years.”

The more successful the study is the better educated homeowners, insurance companies, and roofing manufacturers can be. With this knowledge and combined power, hailstorm damage can hopefully fall significantly.

2013 IBHS Hail Field Project Highlights from IBHS on Vimeo.

When nature takes a walk on the wild side, we realize how prepared we really are – or aren’t. Three families share their stories as well as what they’ve learned as they’ve recovered from their disastrous weather encounters.

Jack McDonald had been settled in his little corner of Ellensburg, Washington, for 17 years with his wife, their horses, their dogs and “the coolest gang of cats you ever saw,” he says. You might not think of the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest as at risk for wildfires, but they were on the edge of open range and had come close in the past. 

On August 13, 2012, his wife called. She could see the smoke and said, "We gotta get out of here.” Twenty minutes later the horses were loaded in a trailer and their dogs were in her car. He could see the fire in the distance. “The winds were horrendous – 60 miles per hour across the ridge – but it looked like it might miss us,” he recalled.

McDonald put the cats in their double-wide mobile home and was giving his wife a hand with the horses when he heard that the fire was spreading – and had changed course. “I came back up to my ranch, and it was clear that my house was in danger. I was going to go get the cats, but the fire chief stopped me. The fire had already swept in.” 

The McDonalds’ home burned down to the crawlspace, leaving nothing but ash. “Glassware and cookware had melted into puddles,” Jack recalls. “We recovered nothing”

They began replacing their belongings as soon as they could. That’s when insult added to injury. “I bought the minimum amount [of insurance] I could get, trying to save money,” McDonald admits. They’re living in a smaller rental now. “We had to cut back on a lot of things, like buying used furniture. I don’t mind used furniture, that’s not the point. What makes me sick is thinking of what’s irreplaceable.”

What To Do:

Wildfires can’t be predicted the way hurricanes or blizzards can. David Miskus, a drought-monitoring meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says overall, we’re expecting more intense dry spells, more warm spells. The closer your home is to the range or the brush, the more at risk you are.

• Clear away brush. It's a fire hazard. Instead of watering to maintain lush green areas, make sure to remove brush.
• Gravel is your friend. Create a buffer zone between your home and potential fires with strategically placed gravel and other rock.
• Don’t light fires during a burning ban. Sounds obvious – and yet again and again, wildfires begin when someone does this.

Don Frank was sitting in his law office on the ninth floor of a building in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. This particular day several years ago started out hot and sunny. But it was turning peculiar. The view out his window was Frank’s first clue.

“Way out over the Berkshires I saw this cloud,” Frank remembers. “It was moving quickly. My office mates turned on the radio. We heard there was a crazy tornado situation coming through Massachusetts, but somehow the idea of being affected by a tornado seemed implausible.”

After all, tornadoes happen in big-sky and prairie country, and in the South - not in New England!

“I could see what was now clearly a tornado forming. It was coming right over the river, which is a block and a half from my office,” Frank recalls. “I still wasn’t worried, because we all know tornadoes never affect people in Springfield. I thought it might knock down power lines, and if I end up stuck someplace, I’d rather it be home.’”

What Frank did next was the opposite of what you should do during a tornado warning. He got into his car. He even offered his office mate a ride. “As we drove out of the parking lot, we came into very, very high winds – but I was still pretty sure nothing bad would happen to me!”

But bad things happen to everyone, no matter where they live, right when they least expect it.

“The tornado went up and over my car,” Frank says. “In a second my car was completely engulfed in debris. My office mate sort of slid down in her seat. I shut my eyes, and at that moment I heard a giant kaboom! My back window pulled out with the pressure differential. Stuff was blowing into my car. As fast as the tornado hit – literally three seconds – it left.”

Frank saw a steel girder from a building lying across the street about 20 feet from his car. He counts himself incredibly fortunate – he was unhurt and was even able to repair his car. But something shifted for him that day. After he got home he tried to shrug off the events of the afternoon and met some friends for a bike ride.

“We were just rolling out on our bikes when that same freaky tornado-like wind blew,” he says. “I was obviously reliving the trauma. Suddenly, I had barely enough strength to bike home.” He no longer operates under the assumption that bad things couldn’t happen to him.

What To Do:

Tornadoes can happen almost anywhere – even in New England. Tornadoes are hard to predict, and there is often too little time to get out of their way. Here are some wise precautions you can take.

• Get a good storm door. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has identified certain storm doors that can withstand 250-mile-per-hour winds. If you live in Tornado Alley - from the Rockies to Appalachians -  install one of those.
• Strengthen your garage. A garage door can be especially vulnerable during high winds. If your garage is attached, that spells trouble for your whole house. A reinforced, windowless door is your best bet. You also can install vertical bracing that helps to reinforce the door.
• Secure your windows. If you’ve heard you should open windows during a tornado, you’ve heard wrong. Instead, investigate DIY systems that clip plywood to your windows – no nailing necessary.
• Consider installing a safe room. If you live in an area prone to tornadoes, this might be the best move you can make. It won’t protect your home but will protect you and your family – and that’s what’s truly irreplaceable.

Patrick and Tammy Stewart's cross country move was wrenching. "We were leaving our first home. We had bought as a fixer-upper and I literally painted every single inch of every single wall,” Tammy says. “It was our first house, and we loved it.” But career opportunities beckoned, so in January 2010 the Stewarts rented out their beloved east coast home and drove across country to California.

Almost two years later, when they were between tenants, Tammy noticed news reports predicting a particularly bad East Coast storm. The Stewarts had several 70 year old trees on their property and feared something could go awry.

Sure enough, the morning the storm made landfall, Tammy got an email from her old neighbor. Tammy recalls the subject line said, "It’s not too bad!” Attached was a photo of a tree that had fallen. The neig

hbor described it tipping in slow-motion, right into the house.

The Stewarts panicked. “We were 3,000 miles away, and this was an emergency," Tammy recalls. "What were we going to do? We had to get the tree off the house to prevent further damage..and new tenants were arriving in just two days! The first thing we did was call State Farm, then the tree guy.”

Acting quickly, the Stewarts’ agent assessed the damage. The tree was chopped up and hauled away. A contractor came out to make sure the house was structurally sound. Thankfully, it was. The Stewarts were lucky. Really lucky because, as Tammy admits, they didn’t really know what was insured.

“We got the insurance we were supposed to have as property owners. We didn’t know what was actually in our policy,” she says, “What was covered, what wasn’t. I didn’t even know what our deductible was!”

Tammy is glad the event forced her and Patrick to become more informed. That tends to be the case for a lot of people. “You get what you’re supposed to get with the thought that nothing will really happen," Tammy said. "It was eye-opening. We were so lucky we had no flooding, because I know now we weren’t covered for that.”

In the midst of the hassle, the Stewarts haven’t lost sight of the silver linings. “We had never exercised our policy,” she says. “With State Farm it went really smoothly - even with us in California. We were surprised too, given the damage back [on the East Coast], that our relatively small claim was handled so quickly.”

What To Do:

Hurricanes and strong storms pack a major punch. It’s important to be prepared. As with any dangerous storm or peril, listen to and react appropriately to evacuation and/or safety messages delivered by local weather and law enforcement authorities.

• Prepare for high winds. Add window protection and reinforce entry and garage doors. Pull all lawn furniture, planters and garbage cans inside. Anything not tied down is a potential projectile.
• Stock up. Make sure you’ve got batteries, flashlights, and enough water and nonperishable food to last a few days. Fill large containers with water for washing and flushing, and gas up your vehicles.
• Look into flood insurance. If you don’t live in a floodplain, chances are you’re not covered for flooding. Most flood insurance is provided by the National Flood Insurance Program, not covered under standard homeowners policies.

It’s that time of year…the sizzle of the grill, the smell of fresh cut grass, flowers in bloom, family vacations, baseball, and of course cooling off while enjoying the water. Unfortunately, along with the fun being in and around water can bring, it is also the time of year when we hear and read about the tragedy of water related accidents and deaths.

An alarming fact to consider is how fast it happens.

This summer, you can be a good neighbor by making your pool safer for kids. Call a specialist in your area for an inspection and remember these tips:

1. If it’s not a designated time for enjoying the pool, make it impossible for the kids to sneak out alone.

2. Restrict access to above ground pools.

3. Make sure your pool is surrounded by a fence.

And whether you are at the pool or the beach, here are a few things to do when you’re with kids around water:

4. Be part of the action

5. Keep your eyes on the kids at all times. Always stay within arm’s reach of young children and put down the phones.

6. Remember, friends make everything more fun!

Enjoy your summer and keep your family safe. Visit www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/water-safety for more safety tips.