The Great Lakes Emergency Preparedness Expo (GLEPE) was held on Saturday, October 4 at the Birch Run Expo Center. The show had another successful turnout of casual and experienced preppers from all across the Midwest. The show offered over 50 exhibitors and presenters, providing products, services, knowledge and skills to help everyone be prepared.

Yvonne Stegall of the Tri-County Times wrote a very informative article on GLEPE and what the show has to offer in the realm of preparedness. Most importantly, the article helps promote an essential element of the show’s mission: not everyone has to prepare for the apocalypse and anyone can be a prepper.

“Contrary to popular belief, not all people who are preparing for a disaster think the end of the world is coming, or even zombies,” said Stegall, “In fact, if you had attended the Great Lakes Emergency Preparedness Expo (GLEPE) you would have been surprised at the lack of doomsday scenarios and zombie outbreaks. Although any “prepper” would have been happy for the information available at this expo, from underground bunkers to shelf-stable foods, there was a little bit of everything for those ready to be prepared for even the most natural of disasters.”

Many seasoned preppers keep a stockpile of supplies to last through more common emergencies, such as technological and accidental hazards, natural disasters like floods, fires and storms, and terrorist threats. One major misconception is that if you’re a “prepper,” you’re drastically planning for the end of the world. More often than not, preppers are everyday individuals with a plan in place. While some actually plan for the worst-case scenario, it’s far more dangerous to have no plan in place.

Stegall makes a great point in clearing misconceptions about emergency preparedness and honoring the show’s true essence: “The purpose of GLEPE is to teach people that it can happen to anyone, and how they can be prepared to survive the worst. The Expo offered numerous training classes, presentations and demonstrations encompassing the prepping, self-reliance and emergency management industries.”

One of the core tasks for GLEPE is to attract organizations and groups that reach a wide variety of people and their loved ones. This means collaborating with prepper networks, government agencies and military branches. GLEPE October 2014 was happy to welcome Live Free USA, the Great Lakes Preppers Meetup Group, the Michigan Department of Community Health, the National Weather Service, and the United States Coast Guard. GLEPE offered plenty of information and real-life advice from people who handle emergencies on a daily basis.

GLEPE will return to the Birch Run Expo Center on April 11, 2015. There will be a new GLEPE show on May 9, 2015 at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, PA. We’d like to thank everyone that came out and supported the show, and we look forward to spreading the right information and resources for preparing for emergencies in 2015.

A special thanks to Yvonne Stegall and the Tri-County Times for covering the GLEPE show! Read the entire article HERE and visit the TCTimes website for more local news and information about GLEPE. Thanks for reading and we hope to see you in 2015!