KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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A couple of thoughts about public service

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 08:51 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


Ive just taken over as Public Service Officer for ARROW, our club here in
Ann Arbor. Traditionally, the job of the Public Service Officer was to
coordinate the clubs efforts in providing public service communications.
The bylaws read as follows:

Public Service Officer

The Public Service Officer shall be responsible for servicing all requests
made to the Corporation for the provision of radio communication for
non-profit activities, including liaison with such organizations and the
coordination of such publicity and public relations pertaining to the role
of the Corporation in public service communication and for all other
aspects of the Corporate activities which may, in the Judgment of the
President, Board of Directors and/or membership, merit public notice and,
in general, all duties incident to the office of Public Service Officer and
such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him by the
President or the Board of Directors.

As is probably the case all over, the call for our services has been
declining in recent years. The previous Public Service Officer mentioned
this to me in an email this morning:

I mentioned to the board at last nights meeting that the number of public
service events has dwindled significantly over the last few years. Some of
this is due to organizations moving their events elsewhere, and some is due
to the events no longer occurring. I had intended to see if I could drum up
some more events, but obviously, that is now up to you.

While I certainly will see if I can find events where we can use our
communications skills, Im also going to take a different approach to public
service. After all, there are more ways to serve than by providing
communications.

One of the first things that Ive done is to inquire about funding a
Washtenaw Community College scholarship in the name of a recently-deceased
member of our club. He was all about education and encouraging young
people, and I think this would be a fitting way to honor his memory as well
as provide a public service. Im now working on finding the funds to do
this. If I can raise $10,000, that money will provide a $500/year
scholarship in perpetuity.

Another idea that Im going to be working on is an Hour of Circuits program.
This idea is still only partly-baked, but the idea would be to come up with
a program, loosely based on the Hour of Code program, that introduces kids
(and adults) to computer science and computer programming. The Hour of
Circuits would introduce kids (and adults) to electronic circuits and
amateur radio. Im thinking that I could possibly get some money from the
ARRL Foundation to get this program off the ground.

So, what do you think? Do any of your clubs have a Public Service Officer?
If not, whos responsible for coordinating public service events? Do your
clubs have any public-service activities that dont directly involve
communications? If so let us know about them.

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