By David Jerome

Contributing Editor

In March the Town Crier began a series of interviews with the directors of the groups within Mountain Disaster Preparedness, the all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping mountain residents help themselves and their neighbors during emergencies. We spoke with President Mike Feyder, the director of their Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Ron Sabala, their Radio Group Director Robert Hewitt, and their Core MEDICAL group Director Dr Richard Yocum. This week we met Marsha Kennedy, Director of Outreach.

Kennedy is new to MDP. “I ran into Mike Feyder at the post office this spring and he asked me to come to an MDP Board meeting in May. I knew half the group already, so it was easy to feel at home. MDP was looking for someone to take on Outreach. With so many new people having moved to the Hill, it’s important that they know what emergency preparation looks like up here. I’ve been on boards of non-profits since I was in my 20’s. I started an emergency preparation group in a gated community I used to live in, and it was quite successful. With my years in theater I have experience with publicity, so all that experience kind of came together in my work with MDP.”

Kennedy echoes Feyder’s comments about the role MDP has in addressing our community’s special needs.  “The factors that make Idyllwild so charming –the fact that it’s ‘an island in the sky—’ also makes living here potentially alarming when something like an earthquake hits us. We had a taste of that with the closure of two of our highways off the Hill in 2019. When a sizeable earthquake does hit, we’ll likely be cut off for days or longer.”

During Kennedy’s short time with MDP, the group is experiencing increased community engagement. “We started by opening Dr. Richard Yocum’s medical talks to the public rather than just to the MDP medical group. His first one about rattlesnake bites drew a standing room only crowd at the Fire Station in June. He and I have developed a monthly schedule of classes on a wide variety of topics. In the past, MDP did one big, yearly event at Town Hall. Now we will be doing more ‘bite-sized’ presentations, which we hope will be easier to easier to attend and digest.”

Kennedy is working on other ways that MDP communicates with residents. “Basically MDP is doing a refresh. The web site is being updated. The Information Box outside the post office—which has had the same display for at least 14 years—is being renovated to better serve our community.  Once the Information Box renovation is completed, people can pick up their mail and also see what MDP’s upcoming events are.

 More is on the horizon. “MDP is going to be offering more opportunities for residents to learn all kinds of information that can both serve them well in day-to-day life and could be vital in an emergency response situation. MDP’s newest program is Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Doug Austin always said that our neighbors were our 911. He was so right. The most immediate responders to any widespread emergency up here will be our neighbors. So it makes sense to get to know who they are, what skills and tools they have, and to make plans with them for when something happens.” First responders are often overwhelmed during a disaster, and local groups like MDP can help bridge the gap.

When we spoke with Kennedy, she was planning the first Neighbors Helping Neighbors meeting for Saturday, July 19 on her own street. “We had 16 RSVPs, over half of the homes on two intersecting roads in Fern Valley. We will review a step-by-step plan for after a disaster happens.” The goal is to hold similar meetings in as many neighborhoods as possible. “MDP is going to have a Town Hall Meeting in a couple weeks to explain how Neighbors Helping Neighbors works, and how anybody can start a group on their street.”

Kennedy sums up the vital need for preparation, at individual, neighborhood, and community levels: “As we’ve seen on the news in recent months, disasters happen in a blink. It’s good to have a plan in place. Especially for us up here, we could be isolated and told to shelter in place for days and even longer before significant help arrives.”

                Kennedy retired after a career with IBM, then studied screenwriting at UCLA and directing at the American Film Institute. “Like so many others I came from San Diego. In the early 2000’s, a friend and I drove up to Idyllwild and spent the day. I was smitten. I could see myself living here. The idea of a small town and four seasons really appealed to me. Finally in 2011 I was able to make the move. I’m still grateful every day that I get to live here.”