About Us

Hi! I'm Jenny Piper, the woman behind Blue Sky Scout

In September of 2009, I traveled from Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles to await the birth of my new nephew. While I was there the Station Fire broke out in the Angeles National Forest. I was staying at my sister's house in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles proper, just a couple of blocks from the edge of the national forest.

At first the fire was too far away to worry about. Then the neighborhood started getting a little smoky. We sat looking out the kitchen window one night, watching the fire advance over the hills towards us. Each day as the fire got closer and the baby hadn't yet arrived, we talked about the decision to evacuate, which would take my 9-month pregnant sister far away from her birth plan. Finally the decision was made for us. When the official order came, I watched in amazement as my sister brought out a three-ring binder with their evacuation plan. She was so organized and the plan told who in the family was responsible for packing which items and taking care of pre-evacuation duties around the property. Download our evacuation plan template.

After the baby was born (Hi, Rory!), I returned home and decided I better do some disaster planning of my own. Enter the ugly red backpack. Ohhh, that backpack. I think you know which one I mean. I put an emergency kit (in an ugly red backpack) on my Amazon wish list. And waited. Nobody bought it for me.

Three years later I was still waiting. I asked my husband why. He said he didn't think I really wanted it. I asked my mom why. She said she didn't think it was a very fun gift. And she was right - it's not. But it got me thinking. Was this a clue to why people don't prep?

At about the same time, I went through some emergency planning online training from FEMA and the CERT course (Community Emergency Response Team) through my local fire district. Shortly thereafter, I developed a preparedness workshop for foster parents - I was a foster parent at the time. I taught this workshop several times and learned a lot from the students.

The first exercise in each workshop was exploring why people don't prepare for emergencies and disasters. The answers were very consistent. Blue Sky Scout's preparedness boxes are designed to address these five reasons people don't engage in preparedness:

• Time and money - Few of us have the time to research, plan, buy, and organize our kits and plans all at one time. And many people can't or don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on preparedness in one pay period. When you subscribe to the boxes, you can spread your monetary investment over time. You can also forgo the research because we do that for you. I'll lead you through planning and organization one month at a time, which removes the time you would need to do it all at once. 
• Lack of urgency - We hear about potential disasters; maybe we've even experienced them. But we always say, "well, it probably won't happen this week. I've got time." I designed the boxes to cut through that resistance by making them something you want to buy.
• It's overwhelming - Have you ever Googled preparedness and ended up in a maze of endless checklists? Me too. I felt like I was really missing the boat because I wasn't ready to grind my own wheat. Relax. Something is better than nothing. The subscription boxes deliver a module each month to keep you engaged but not overwhelmed, building your kit one month at a time. And the best part is that you won't have to Google preparedness ever again.
• Fear - Some people just don't want to think about disasters. It's too scary when you think you can't do anything about it. All I can say about this is, the more you prepare, the less scared you are. Of course, you have to face a little fear at the beginning to get into it. You can do it. The beauty of these subscription boxes is that you hardly have to think about it. They just show up on your doorstep once a month. Blue Sky Scout is all about doom-free preparedness. I like to say you're getting a box of sunshine.
• It's not rewarding - This one goes back to the ugly red backpack. My mom was right. It's not fun to buy something that's not attractive, especially if you're just going to stick it in your closet and forget about it. I designed this subscription box to be visually appealing and fun. Each box includes at least one thing that's fun or cute or pretty, and is also functional as a preparedness item.

So that's our origin story. Blue Sky Scout came about from a wildfire and an ugly red backpack and some foster parents who were willing to engage in a workshop exercise. I'm excited to welcome you to our movement to get women and families prepared for emergencies, and feeling confident and ready. You might be adulting on the fly, but Blue Sky Scout is here to help you with that.

When I'm not thinking about preparedness, I am busy reading, learning to paint, and trying to train our beagle, Niko, parenting a teenage daughter and a school-age son, and being a wife, a church member, and a marketing professional for a large library system. I live in Bothell, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. I am a fourth generation Pacific Northwest girl and proud of it. Even if we're due for a giant earthquake.

Wishing you blue skies,

Jenny