[SOC] Ham Radio Operator Victim of Devastating House Fire

[W1EOF]

All: I'm sure you can imagine how devastating a house fire can be. Although
you may not know Don personally as a ham he is truly one of our brothers.
I'd like to ask if maybe you can't help out in some small way. If many
people can help just a bit, it could make a HUGE difference in their efforts
to get their lives back in order. I've included the email I received last
night from my good friend Peter AA1PL who is collecting the funds to give to
Don and Lenore. Make sure you follow the directions and send the funds to
Pete, not to me. Besides making a donation myself I figure the best I can do
is to let others know and give them an opportunity to help. We have a well
known and long standinghistory of helping out when called upon. Thanks very
much for you kindness and consideration of a fellow ham.

73,

Mark W1EOF



Dear Fellow Ham Radio Operators
One of our ham radio brothers, Don Dorson, W1GBO, and his wife Lenore
suffered a tragic house fire on Wednesday afternoon January 24, 2006.  They
lived on Gardiner Road on the Exeter/Richmond, RI border (the town border
actually goes thrugh their property).  Don has a connection with the RIAFMRS
(the "76 repeater group") because he has a large commercial tower on his
property which he has graciously allowed us to utilize for our 443.850
repeater. The repeater is off the air right now because the electrical power
to the tower site went through the house and the power to the house has been
disconnected. He working on getting the tower site power restored. I visited
Don Thursday morning.  I visited him again Thursday night to deliver some
winter coats, boots, gloves, etc.

Their historic 1700's farm house is still standing (barely) but suffered
extremely heavy fire damage throughtout the structure.  There are huge burnt
out openings on the second floor and a large portion of the roof has
collapsed. It does not look salvageable to me. To make matters worse, Don
lost his entire business in the fire since he was self employed and his
business was based in his house.  Don's business developed specialty
electronic hardware/software technolgy used in Oceanography.  He has lost
everything - all his equipment, computers, files, furniture, personal
belongings, everything in the house is basically a loss.  He and his wife
basically have the clothes on their back and their faith in God.  They do
have a place to stay (a vacant but fully furnished house across the street
was made available to them by the owner).

Here's a link to the WJAR-TV news report:
http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/news.apx.-content-articles-JAR-2007-01
-24-0020.html

Don was not very active on the VHF/UHF repeaters. He was primarily an HF CW
operator. So most of you may not know him. But he is still a brother ham. I
know if a tradgedy like this happened to me (or any of us for that matter),
I know that our brother/sister hams would be there to help out in any way
possible.

The 76 repeater group would like to take up a collection for Don and his
wife. Therefore on behalf of the Rhode Island Amateur FM Repeater Service
(RIAFMRS) I would like to ask you all to please consider a financial gift to
Don Dorson to help out with their immediate financial need at this tragic
time in their lives.  I beleive if we rally together that we can deliver a
very generous gift  that shows the true spirit of ham radio (serving our
community first) and the compassion we have for our fellow human beings.
Please send your best gift possible, whatever the amount. No gift is too
small. Please send a check payable to Donald Dorson and mark  fire donation
on the memo line. Please mail  the check to me and I will gather them all
together and hand deliver them to Don. I know that Don and his wife would
deeply appreciate it. I will keep track of the total amount that we were
able to gather together and will report back to all of you via email with
the final number.

Please mail your checks to:
Peter Harrison, AA1PL
24 Forest Glen Drive
Hope Valley, RI 02832

Thank you for your time, compassion and generosity. On a personal note,
please pray for them and may God Bless you all.

Sincerely,
Pete Harrison, AA1PL