Hello All,

So, for the sake of this discussion, assume that you and a few others (Mormons mostly) are prepared with one year's worth of food, water and supplies.

Something big happens and those stores become necessary.

All of a sudden your neighbors (or friends or relatives or strangers)come looking for help. These are the same people who thought you were crazy for imagining that something might happen.

What would you do?

I've thought a lot about this and I don't have an answer. There are few neighbors whom I've talked about preparedness with, and a few of those have stocked up on some supplies. Usually this is just fulfilling the Red Cross's or FEMA's suggested 72 hour kits.
I've encouraged everyone I know to think about preparedness, plan and get ready for tough times. Most people just scoff. A few of my neighbors have said things like "we'll just come over to your house if something bad happens". It was funny at first, but what do I do when they actually show up hungry or hurt? I have stores for 6 months tops for MY family. In an emergency (worst case or not) where do you draw the line?

There's a reason you are supposed to stockpile arms and ammunition as well as food.
A lot of people think it's for when the army comes to your house, but it's not.

The ant and the grasshopper...

What they don't know about my stash won't cause me any sleepless nights. If they come a calling, I will tell them the truth and say I've nothing to spare for them. It may seem cold, but all I gotta do is picture my wife and/or kids cold and hungry because I gave their food and clothes away to someone else, and that settles that idea but quick.

You draw the line at meeting your responsibilities. If you have an abundance, then go ahead and share, but I cannot predict the future so well, and who's to say that in a crisis situation, two years of food and water stock would be required to get by.

Seems pretty cut and dried to me. You put those supplies up for a reason; you don't change your mind just because some fool outside your door is suffering needlessly. You make a plan, you stick to it, and keep the outside factors outside where they belong. You wanna feed the homeless or the unprepared, make separate provisions for them outside of your own needs, and when those supplies are gone, feel good that you were able to help out as much as you did.

That, my friends, is life.

This is good. This is what I imagine most people would think, myself included. I'm not sure it would be so easy if my six-year-old son's best friend asked if he could eat with us. I've lived in my neighborhood all of my life. I've known some of my neighbors for 35 years. Would I (could I) drive them away with threat of violence if they were in trouble. It seems to me that sort of lack of community is what will lead to a collapse. Perhaps I'm just a bleeding heart liberal (or something), and it might be obvious if it ever comes down to it, but for now it's an ethical problem for me.

Keep a low profile about your bounty and then you don't have to answer those awkward questions. You never want to be the richest house in the neighborhood in time of plenty or famine.

+1 to everything that benjammin said above; I could not have said it better.
Unfortunately, it appears that those of us who try to prepare for emergency/crisis situations are a small minority. I don't think any of us would enjoy seeing others suffer; but the most prudent course of action seems to be keeping your preparations as private and confidential as possible.
I think PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY seems to be more lacking in our society every day; and that's a shame.
I would certainly try to assist others whenever possible; but, I don't plan on letting my family be victimized by people who had no forethought to make even the most basic preparations.

Yes, good idea to keep a low profile. It IS tough with young children who innocently tell the neighbors about Daddy's shelves of food, water and supplies in the basement. Maybe it helps to plan ahead for charitable give/no give scenarios.

Did someone post a link here to this short film, "Old Friends," a few weeks ago?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPYwmHiseXQ

A few good posts on this topic can be found at SurvivalBlog.com:

When unprepared folks come knocking -

http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/11/letter_re_when_unprepared_folk.html

Preparing charity packets -

http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/07/letter_re_preassembling_charit.html

Keeping a low profile -
http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/02/letter_re_keeping_a_low_profil.html

Maybe this is where barter comes in?

I work hard and think ahead make plans and preperations to feed my wife and I,I have talked to friends and family till I lose my voice and it does no good, I feel I did my part. They have health insurance maybe a little bit better house or a newer car,more money in their savings account than I do, when I'm behind on a bill, or I need my truck fixed or repairs on the house I don't see them offering to help me. I guess the one and only exception I would make is if either of the two groups (family/friends) were willing and able to offer help in the form of hunting, fishing or growing a garden, to me that would justify taking care of them, as long as it didn't put my wife or I in a bad position and shorten our chances for surviving.

My cover was blown a long time ago. As one neighbor said as hurricane Ike came barreling down on us, "I wasn't worried, Blast was here."

One of the best things about my neighborhood is that it's edged by hundreds of acres of wild river-bottom that is filled year-round with edible plants. Most of these plants aren't very tasty and it'll take some work to collect them, but they'll at least keep the neighborhood kids fed. My basic plan is to organize foraging parties to go out and collect the stuff as well as help people set up wild edible gardens in their yards. I already have clout in the neighborhood to help me organize things. The down side to this plan is there are also a lot of deer and pigs out there which means there will also be people with guns after them...definately a danger to keep in mind.

And if things get really bad there's always bugs...

-Blast