[FLham] NCCS Grant / Ham Aid

[Radioguy]

NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 2, 2005--

The Corporation for National and Community Service 
(<http://www.nationalservice.org/>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."