As relief supplies from all around the world are pouring into the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation of Haiti, one Kent-based company is sure their product will begin to make a difference as soon as it arrives.
“These are going to Haiti,” says Jeff Guite, President and CEO of American Preparedness, as he taps a pile of boxes wrapped in plastic and waiting to be shipped.
In the company’s small warehouse space, which is separate from their administrative headquarters and located near SeaTac airport, Guite (pronounced “Getty”) and his staff are putting together emergency kits for the California Red Cross that contain three days’ worth of supplies for a family of four.
The two pallets already wrapped and awaiting pickup were purchased by an individual in California, through the Red Cross, and feature the company’s survival kits, including 30 pounds of necessities such as food, toiletries, a first-aid kit, a flashlight, a radio, a Swiss Army knife, ponchos, light sticks and even a coloring book and deck of cards, all packed into a red backpack.
“You’re giving them the basic essentials across the board,” Guite says, hoisting one of the packs onto his back and adding “The attractive part about a kit is it’s portable.”
Though primarily in the preparedness business, Guite said his company is often called after a disaster hits because they can provide the necessities needed during a recovery period.
“If they don’t save lives they’re going to help people live and survive,” he says.
The two palettes represent 50, four-person packs and Guite said the company is starting to work on a second order for 5,000 packs, also to be sent to Haiti.
“We build kits year-round, but when something like this comes, we get blitzed,” says Chief of Operations Stephen Berner. “This week has been a busy, busy week.”
“It’s why we’re here,” says Guite.
Guite founded American Preparedness in 1980 after being “appalled” by the response to a disaster. As a veteran of the U.S. Army, Guite said he felt the best thing to do would be prepare ahead of time instead of waiting for a disaster and then simply reacting.
“In the military, we train so when a disaster comes up we can kick butt,” he said, adding that after a disaster such as an earthquake, hurricane or flood, response is usually “helter skelter.”
Guite said he was reminded of his time in the military and the kits they were given to prepare for an emergency.
“We’ll just domesticate it,” he says he thought at the time.
The company was founded and began putting together kits of all sizes for all sorts of disasters. Today, the company provides kits to organizations as wide-ranging as the Red Cross to Little League Baseball to UNICEF to Children’s Hospital to Microsoft and Boeing.
Tom Hanks has even bought kits for use at his production company in California.
American Preparedness is a for-profit company, however. The company works through charitable agencies, however, so, for example, money donated to the Red Cross for Haiti relief may go to purchase the company’s kits.
“Everyone of these disasters over the past 30 years we have been a part of,” Guite says. “Charitable organizations, by charter, can’t build these things. Someone has to.”
But while the company takes in between $1 million and $2 million each year building “10s of thousands” of kits, Guite says the primary purpose for him and his staff is not to make money, evidenced by the backgrounds of staff members, who are mostly retired from six-figure corporate positions and working for much less today.
“You can’t be in this unless your heart’s in this,” Guite says. “You gotta care about people.”
Guite says he’d like to pay the staff more, but the money goes back into buying supplies for the kits, as well as donating up to 20,000 kits each year.
But while Guite says he is always pleased to see his kits helping after a disaster strikes, he hopes more people will take to heart advice to be prepared for when one strikes.
“Haiti is a wake-up call,” he says. “Before we have a Haiti here, get your act together.
“Get this state ready, get the schools ready,” he says.
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