[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Updates and Announcements Event deadline in last paragraph

[Sean Gallagher]

Greetings, 
 
First, I should have had this out to you all last week but I suffered an email avalanche which shut down my email account.  What a mess!  Purging and deleting is still the order of the day but at least I'm operating.
 
At the last membership meeting, I told the members in attendance that the Nomination Committee had been stood up and I was awaiting confirmation from one of the committee members before I could announce.  I’m pleased report that Gary Sessums, KC5QCN and Sandy Kenyon, KQ4DNE will operate as the Nominating Committee to build the candidates list for the 2026 elections and run the voting process.  We thank them both for stepping up to the task.  Now we just need some suitable candidates.  Please consider serving as an Officer or Director for the 2026 year.  If you have questions about any of these roles, just ask and we’ll get all your questions answered.  We will be hearing from the Nomination Committee very soon.
 
On 20 September, members of ARC supported the Office of Emergency Management in the Tons of Trucks event.  We were grouped in the center of the field at Chinquapin Park with the Alexandria Office of Emergency Management and with other volunteer support groups to include, American Red Cross, Volunteer Alexandria, the Medical Reserve Corps (VA Dept of Health) and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).  These groups are also represented in the Citizen Corp Council, the city’s risk identification and volunteer management board.  ARC has been a participant in this board since 2021.  I will have more on this topic at a later date. 
 
The Tons of Trucks event was a smashing success with attendance exceeding the projected attendance of 5000 by more than 2000 people.  Next year is the 10th anniversary of this event and the City is aiming to attract 10000 attendees. 
 
As the largest City-sponsored event of the year, Tons of Trucks provides an excellent opportunity to highlight the art and science of Amateur Radio to the community at large.  This was our first year participating but we seemed to have held our own with many visitors to and into the trailer in addition to the numerous attendees that chatted and posed questions of our Club Ambassadors situated at a public relations table outside of the trailer. 
 
In response to our collective stellar performance at Tons of Truck, the Office of Emergency Management sent out a congratulatory note which I have forwarded to the Club in a separate email. 
 
Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the ARC has been invited to participate in proclamation ceremony for National Preparedness Month which occurs annually in September.  Normally, these proclamations are conducted at the start of the month but there was a schedule problem that forced the ceremony to occur at the end of the month for this year.  The ceremony will take place in City Council chambers at City Hall on Tuesday 30 September at 7PM.  This event provides the ARC an excellent opportunity to appear before the Mayor, City Manager and City Council as a part of the Emergency Management Group and allow the City leadership an opportunity to see the faces behind all of the outstanding amateur radio communications support provided by ARC.  If you are able to attend, please let me know by Monday noon so that I can provide a rough head count to OEM.  If you have hats or shirts identifying you as a member of ARC, please wear them.  The ceremony will only last for about 15 minutes so I would suggest that we could all meet somewhere locally for a drink and something to eat after the ceremony.  Probably best to arrive by 630PM at City Hall so we can organize with the OEM group prior to the ceremony.   Let’s have a great showing on Tuesday for the Alexandria Radio Club.
Thanks!
73,
Sean