My preparedness and families lack of

[Eagle_Al]

I have often thought of this scenario. Things are bad. I have plenty or suffiecient amounts for the people in my house. Family members who never thought of being prepared, and perhaps thought I was a little crazy for being so prepared suddenly find themselves in need of my assistance. ie, they need some food and other things. It is easy to say, "hey, you should have been prepared." Although this is true, they are family and they may be in dier"<probably spelled wrong" need of help, and they are a living human. How much do I give up, and how stern do I need to be to allow more for my own family? Just wanted other peoples thoughts. It is very easy to say,"go home, you should have been prepared." But... someone with a conscionse and a heart can not just stand there and not help in the slightest bit.
My thoughts are this, give a little bit initially, tell them that they need to start thinking very seriously about being prepared. Teach them what things they need to do, Hopefully teach them these things before the time is at hand. Also I might want to underplay how much I have and just how prepared Iam so that they dont all want to rely on me. I can't spend all this time preparing just to lose all of it to 20 family members who never thought about being prepared, but I can't completely ignore them and be totally without mercy.
Thanks to all for your comments.

 

[Steve]

Tough call. I think I would have to say something to the effect of:

"Sorry for your situation. I tried to warn you repeatedly that this situation could become a reality, but you chose not to listen. You are not bringing anything to the table other than more problems. If you had skills or items we all could benifit from, that would be one thing. But you don't. Just a whiny attitude that it's someone else's fault.

Here's 5 days worth of food and water. Go try to find some other family member or friend that will take you in. I can't and won't put me and mine in jeporady because of your bad decisions."

If the wife has a problem with this, sorry. We will have enough to deal with should that day arrive. Her or my family sponging off of us will NOT make the situation any better. There will be plenty of other hard choices to make as well. It wouldn't be pretty.

 

[Eddie]

Tough one

You've hit on a tough question. Here are my thoughts:

First, you have to draw a bottom line; what do you absolutely need for you and your immediate family, the people you have been prepping for? Everything that falls below this bottom line cannot be given away because you absolutely need it.

It will be likely that you may have some things that don't fall below this bottom line. Maybe your emergency supplies are in the basement, but there are still a few bits of food in the kitchen or something. You can only give or trade away the extra items that are not neccessary for you and yours to survive and every little thing that you give away is something you may later need.

That said, it will be a tough choice, sort of like the captain of a life boat that is filled to capacity; there are still people in the water, but if you take on any more then you sink.

In the end I think that my answer would be to give away the perishable things that are left in my kitchen since those won't last anyway, give the best advice that I can and then tell them that they need to move along.

 

[Eagle_Al]

I was thinking to prepare to have more than I really need for my wife and daughter. Then when the time comes only give a little bit, and not the things that I value most, perhaps things that are at the expiration date, and say "i can help some, but I have to think of my wife and daughter first. like one of you said, give some extra things that I don't really want that is just laying in the cabinets. I also think that telling them it is good to be prepared now is a great idea. Also i will feel a little better when I have to tell them that I tried to tell them to be prepared and that this is all that I can give them to help, (a few days of food). I think it is always better to have more than I think I will need. Better to be prepared and not need than to need and not be prepared.

 

[Bisley Man]

This is a tough call, that's been discussed before,BUT the discussion goes on for MANY pages every time because that is very likely in a SHTF situation. Family, I'd try to help, neighbors , forget it. I see you're new, so

 

[Armed & Christian]

This topic has come up from time to time in my family. The last time the subject was broached, my brother in law (who was marvelling at the progress I had made in my family preps) said, "We'll be coming to your place when the SHTF!" I firmly and politely told him that it is his responsibility to provide for his own family (2 Timothy 5:8), and that if he were to show up empty-handed and without a valuable skill set to offset his intention to drain my family's hard-won resources, he would be treated like any other looter.

 

[Sailor]

I have prepped for some of my family that I know have some supplies but not nearly enough. They are welcome, we are are ready for them. There is work ready for them to do.

I have some other relatives that are not prepped and that are a few hundred pounds overweight. Not gonna happen. Can't take care of yourself, not getting a handout from me.

 

[Sailor]

This topic has come up from time to time in my family. The last time the subject was broached, my brother in law (who was marvelling at the progress I had made in my family preps) said, "We'll be coming to your place when the SHTF!" I firmly and politely told him that it is his responsibility to provide for his own family (2 Timothy 5:8), and that if he were to show up empty-handed and without a valuable skill set to offset his intention to drain my family's hard-won resources, he would be treated like any other looter.

I usually just say, "you ever heard of lifeboat politics?"

 

[haldir]

Our son still lives here. The daughter will be welcomed, her live-in... tolerated. That will be about it. No other family close by so I won't be faced with that very tough situation.

 

[Ramen]

I would let them in, under the condition that they work for their keep.

We are starting a community garden and practicing permaculture. Our goal is to get the entire community involved in growing their own food. A community will be able to defend itself and provide for each other much easier than a small family. Plus, if everyone else dies, that would be really boring.

I would suggest that anyone who is preparing by stockpiling also needs to start growing his or her own food, and start getting the community involved. Local communities will be able to weather a SHTF situation that a family may not. It is much easier to build buildings, and planting/harvesting/preserving goes much faster, when you have more people involved.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

You know, this is tough. Mom certainly welcome, she's a doctor and a darn good shot with a rifle too. Brother, likely welcome, he has some useful skills as well, he's a chemist at Lilly and his wife is an RN. Sister and brother-in-law, completely worthless and useless, but I'd probably be hard pressed by other family to let them stay. This is the tough part, I really think what mom and little bro bring to the table may be worth letting little sis in. There would most certainly be solid ground rules for her to follow though and .........Sort of obligated to help Mother-in Law for various reasons and brother-in-law doesn't possess any useful skills, but he is young and strong and can learn so I guess he's welcome too. At this point, I've gotta draw the line though, because we'll be living like sardines in a can. I'm not adequately supplied for all of them by any means, but where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[csaws]

If you hand out to someone now you are enabling them to come to you later. See current government model for examples.