Earlier this week I had the privileged of meeting a young man (16 years old) who started a non-profit organization 5 years ago to educate youth on emergency preparedness. Yes, that means Konstantine Buhler was 11 years old when he founded Always Ready Kids.
This amazing young man spoke articulately with a group of emergency preparedness professionals explaining how the organization was established and run by "kids" to assisted "kids" and their families prepare for disasters. It was only then we found out that he was only 16, most of us assuming that he was a few years older than that by his professional presentation.
Always Ready Kids (ARK) has reached out to tens of thousands of young people across the United States with programs that are totally funded by corporate donations and now ARK is prepared to expand into other countries.
Community emergency preparedness officials should take a look at this program, the work completed and the methods they are using to educate young people - http://www.alwaysreadykids.org/ . An amazing young man with an amazing organization. Check it out.
The photo captures Konstantine and his father at the 2009 World Conference on Disaster Management.
