[ARRL-OK] Federal Government Grant to "Ham Aid" Will Support Katrina Response

[N7HRT at aol.com]

Federal Government Grant to "Ham Aid" Will  Support Katrina Response
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 2, 2005--The Corporation  for National and Community 
Service (CNCS) will provide a $100,000 grant  supplement to ARRL to support Amateur 
Radio's emergency communication operators  in states affected by Hurricane 
Katrina. The grant will help to fund "Ham Aid,"  a new League program to support 
Amateur Radio volunteers deployed in the field  in disaster-stricken areas. 
ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH,  expressed gratitude to CNCS 
for its generous response. Ham Aid, she said, offers  a unique opportunity to 
support individual radio amateurs helping to bridge the  communication gap 
Hurricane Katrina has caused. 
"For the first time in ARRL  history, we will be able to reimburse some of 
the expenses that hams incur in  response to a disaster," she said. "We only 
wish that we could justify an  expense reimbursement program like this every time 
Amateur Radio Emergency  Service volunteers are called upon to help in a 
disaster or emergency, sometimes  placing themselves in harm's way." 
In addition to providing emergency  communication within and outside the 
affected areas, Amateur Radio Emergency  Service (ARES) members and individual 
radio amateurs are supplementing the  communication needs of emergency management 
and relief agencies, including the  American Red Cross and The Salvation 
Army. Hobart said it's only due to the  scope of the unprecedented and tragic 
Katrina disaster that CNCS agreed to help  support dedicated Amateur Radio 
volunteers. 
"But," she added, "we'd like to  think of this grant as a token of 
appreciation and a recognition of Amateur  Radio's value in past emergencies and 
disasters, such as 9/11." 
Hobart says  ARRL's Ham Aid program already has received some substantial 
private donations.  Those and the CNCS grant, she said, provide a way for the 
League to "support our  Field Organization as never before." 
The CNCS Ham Aid grant is effective for  operations established and 
documented as of September 1, 2005, and the aid is  earmarked for Hurricane Katrina 
deployments only at this point. Guidelines are  being established that will 
permit volunteers who have been involved in bona  fide field support operations on 
or after September 1 to provide communication  support to apply for a 
reimbursement voucher on a per diem basis. 
Trained  Amateur Radio operators will be on site for the duration of this 
disaster  response, which could run into several weeks or months. "Many will 
leave their  jobs and families and travel on their own expense, using their own 
equipment,"  Hobart points out. 
Corporation funds may also sustain the Ham Aid program  and help to rebuild 
the emergency communications capabilities in Louisiana,  Mississippi and 
Alabama to ensure that the Gulf Coast is prepared, should  disaster strike again. 
The CNCS grant is an extension of ARRL's three year  Homeland Security 
training grant, which has provided certification in emergency  communication 
protocols to nearly 5500 Amateur Radio volunteer over the past  three years. 
"CNCS grants helped make it possible for the ARRL to train  America's hams 
and make them the best all-volunteer emergency radio service ever  seen," Hobart 
said. "Now they are making it possible for the hams to use that  training."