Some came to learn how they could help. Others arrived with open ears ready to take in as much knowledge as they could.

For these reasons and more, the community came out to Springhouse Middle School recently for the "Emergency – Be Prepared" seminar and expo hosted by state Rep. Julie Harhart, R-183rd.

"The better prepared we are for a disaster, the better the outcome is going to be for all of us," John Kyte of the American Red Cross of the Lehigh Valley said as part of a series of brief presentations during the program.

The event united various community health and safety organizations under a single roof for one night, providing a sea of safety knowledge and representatives ready to impart knowledge, tips and samples to those in attendance.

Residents could pick up useful items such as a Smell 'N' Scratch from the UGI booth to identify the smell of mercaptan, or visit the Lehigh Valley County Animal Response Team's booth to say hello to one of its mascots, 10-year-old, four-legged, fluffy Foxy.

Regardless of which booths residents chose to visit, information was plentiful.

"I don't think anybody can ever be too informed. The more information they have, the better off they are," Brad Miller, of Cetronia Ambulance, said in between showing an automatic CPR machine to curious onlookers.

The event was split up into two parts.

The expo took place in the cafeteria starting at 6:30 p.m. and lasted until around 9 p.m., while the presentations took place in the auditorium from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m.

Eight speakers gave brief safety presentations and talked about their companies, including Patrick Flynn of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Jason Smith from the Department of Health – Eastern Pennsylvania EMS Council, Sean Brown of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Donna Zimmerman of the Lehigh County Office of Aging and Adult Services, John Kyte of the American Red Cross of the Lehigh Valley, Joe Nixon from PPL, Marc Troutmann from Met Ed, Tracey Perry from UGI and Scott Lindenmuth of the Lehigh County Emergency Services.

In addition to the speakers, various organizations had stations set up around the perimeter of the cafeteria for people to visit.

These included but were not limited to the Community Emergency Response Team, Lehigh County Special Operations Team, Northampton EMS and Cetronia Ambulance.

Various local fire departments were also present outside of the school with their vehicles.

The event gave residents the chance to have a face-to-face conversation with safety specialists from all different organizations and learn something new to be better prepared in case of a future emergency.

"I thought I'd come and see what I don't know," said Barb Toth of Lehigh Township. "I'm older and I know a lot, but I still wanted to see what's new, and I'm impressed with how many new, compact items that they had like these aluminum foil blankets, and the water packets that they have and the dehydrated food and different things."

"It's things you don't think about in everyday life," her friend Sandy Borbacs of Lehigh Township added. "We go about in a frame of mind that nothing's ever going to happen to us, and this is putting it into a real perspective."

The free event was organized by Harhart as a response to the flooding events in 2011, which caused extensive damage to residents' homes and left thousands of people without power.

Harhart wanted to provide people the opportunity to be prepared for emergencies in the future.

"We want everybody to be safe. That's my main reason to be here," said Perry, who serves as community relations program manager at UGI. "Safety is our number one priority."