across America to identify their unique needs and existing resources that may be used to address them.
A community-based approach to emergency management begins with an informed public. This week, I encourage all Americans living in areas that could be impacted by a hurricane to prepare by creating an emergency supply kit, learning evacuation routes, and developing a family communications plan to help ensure loved ones can find one another before and after a severe storm. If a hurricane is approaching, take shelter immediately, follow the directions of State and local officials, and evacuate if instructed. To learn more and find additional resources on how to prepare for and respond to severe weather, visit www.Ready.gov and www.Weather.gov.
As we mark the beginning of hurricane season, let us recommit to ensuring the safety of our loved ones and our communities, and to building a stronger, more resilient Nation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 27 through June 2, 2012, as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. I call upon government agencies, private organizations, schools, media, and residents in the coastal areas of our Nation to share information about hurricane preparedness and response to help save lives and protect communities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
Proclamation 8831 of May 25, 2012
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2012
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Our Nation endures and thrives because of the devotion of our men and women in uniform, who, from generation to generation, carry a burden heavier than any we may ever know. On Memorial Day, we honor those who have borne conflict’s greatest cost, mourn where the wounds of war are fresh, and pray for a just, lasting peace.
The American fabric is stitched with the stories of sons and daughters who gave their lives in service to the country they loved. They were patriots who overthrew an empire and sparked revolution. They were courageous men and women who strained to hold a young Union together. They were ordinary citizens who rolled back the creeping tide of tyranny, who stood post through a long twilight struggle, who saw terror and extremism threaten our world’s security and said, "I’ll go." And though their stories are unique to the challenges they faced, our fallen service members are forever bound by a legacy of valor older than the Republic itself. Now they lay at rest in quiet corners of our country and the world, but they live on in the81
