NATIONAL NONPROFIT AWARDS TEN YOUNG STUDENTS FOR THEIR KNOWLEDGE
ON DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

The national nonprofit Home Safety Council® announced the ten Kids Prepare America contest grand prize winners. As part of the prize, the winners will travel to Washington, DC with an adult family member and his/her teacher to tour the nation’s capital. The contest winners will receive their awards during the Home Safety Council’s Salute to Home Safety awards dinner taking place on June 5, 2008.

With recent research showing that families across the country are not as prepared for disasters as they should be, the Home Safety Council launched the Kids Prepare America contest in September 2007 as a call to action for students to take the lead in helping prepare their families and communities for emergencies. The contest called on third and fourth graders to submit original drawings showing the Home Safety Council what they have done to help prepare their families and communities for an emergency situation.

“Our research showed that busy parents were not taking the basic steps needed to prepare their families for emergencies. In response, we launched the Kids Prepare America contest as a call to action for kids to take the lead in driving family readiness,” said Meri-K Appy, Home Safety Council president. “We applaud the work of students like our ten grand prize winners, who have helped their families prepare for emergencies by taking positive actions like developing a family communications plan and assembling emergency supplies kits.”

Ten Grand Prize Winners:

• Dominik Fill: Immaculate Heart of Mary - Still River, MA
  

• Sophie Pastore: Our Lady of Sorrows - Mercerville, NJ
  

• Madison Moore: Leithwalk Elementary - Baltimore, MD
  

• Adam Carr: Home schooled - Tampa, FL
  

• Kathryn Nicole Hansen: Okawville Grade School - Okawville, IL
  

• Alaysia Burdex: Ninnekah Elementary - Ninnekah, OK
  

• Alan Rooney: Sandhills Elementary - Halsey, NE
  

• Wyatt Beyer: Timber Lake School - Timber Lake, SD
  

• Mackenzie Cox Barrett: Foursquare Christian School - Crescent City, CA
  

• Kennedy Sundberg: St. Parish School - Eugene, OR
  

About the Kids Prepare America Contest
The Kids Prepare America contest was launched as part of the Home Safety Council’s efforts to get children, parents, teachers and community educators involved and taking the actions needed to prepare for disasters. The contest called on third and fourth grade students to create and submit an original picture detailing the importance of disaster/emergency preparedness. The entries were judged based on creativity, originality, demonstration of emergency/disaster preparedness, clarity of expression and adherence to contest rules. The ten grand prize winners will be awarded with a trip to the nation’s capital with an adult family member, teacher and safety partner from the community to attend an awards dinner on June 5, 2008 in their honor. For more information, visit www.kidspreapareamerica.org.