I’ve 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 club’s 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, I’m 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 I’ve 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. I’m 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 I’m 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. I’m 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, who’s responsible for coordinating public service events? Do your clubs have any public-service activities that don’t directly involve communications? If so let us know about them.
Congrats on the new position – Arrow could not have picked a better man for the job!
Being one of your former students in the Technician license class I can attest to your skills in teaching technical material in a short period of time, and I know that you will excel at this. You have a talent for keeping the student focused on the material and I believe this is a much needed program. After you have logged several hours teaching this class I think you may end up with another book.
73!
I forgot one thing – you could set up a gofundme page to set up that scholarship. Having seen the things people put on that site as a means of funding various things you may find the $10,000.00 is just the beginning!
I like the gofundme idea. I’m going to look into that.
Since 2015 I’ve minted about 15 new youth hams (40% YLs) by first coaching middle school teams signed up for the national CyberPatriot competition. (See uscyberpatriot.org . BTW, Michigan had 100 teams signed up). During the season, students develop acute awareness about our reliance on tech infrastructure. Enter the ham radio demo and value proposition ;-) Once the cyber season concludes in February, I then switch into Tech licensing mode for 90 minutes a week. By May, half the students are capable of passing the exam. Our local Newport County Radio Club supports the effort with speakers, hands-on activities, VEs, and a reduced cost membership category. Some of the students, now in high school, have launched their own high school clubs. The trajectory for growth is there. I encourage hams to explore the connection between cyber skills and ham radio.
I wonder why the number of ham supported public service events keeps growing in the Kansas City area? We are having about 30 every season; from March through November. Amateur radio is alive and well here.
I guess the number of events varies by area. Our club in Utah County doesn’t have a Public Service Officer, but we do spend time in every meeting announcing events that need hams to volunteer. It seems there is always something going on – sometimes several simultaneously – and they always seem to need more volunteers.
Since you don’t have that going on in your area, I think it’s a great idea to find other ways to serve.
I’m leery of supporting thinly-veiled fund-raisers. You know the type — Ride for the Cure, etc. These are really well-healed events, including catering for the riders, and rake in a LOT of pledge money raised by the riders, by annoying their co-workers and families.
Doesn’t strike me as a non-pecuniary interest.
There seems no limit to the number of fund-raisers, and for all the money flowing around, they could easily afford to rent some commercial radios and time on the local commercial service, if they find cell phones not up the requirements (one-to-many, net operations, etc).
I’m all for helping with civic stuff, like the local Touch-a-Truck that is coming up in our area, parades, and annual Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society’s Hell of a Ride. These are all clearly non-commercial.
I think supporting fundraisers for good causes is OK–if they give our club a decent cut. One event that I’m not hot on at all is the Ann Arbor Marathon. This is an event run by a for-profit company, strictly to make a profit.