From the ARRL (ham radio organization) that sponsored 50 amateur radio volunteers on very short notice in coordination with the Red Cross to support Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
www.arrl.org/…
The 22 “Force of 50” radio amateurs who deployed to Puerto Rico earlier this month as American Red Cross volunteers have ended their mission and will be back on the US mainland by week’s end. They had been in Puerto Rico for about 3 weeks.
“The Force of 50 volunteers demonstrated an extraordinary range of skills possessed by this accomplished team,” ... “There was no task that they wouldn’t tackle. It also demonstrated the generosity of these volunteers, who not only performed their roles as communicators, but also engaged the population with their many acts of personal kindness.”
... the volunteers accomplished everything they went to Puerto Rico to do, “and then some.” She said that the Red Cross felt they had exceeded all expectations.
…
... the volunteers’ initial mission was to provide a way to gather outbound health and welfare messages and put them into the Red Cross’s Safe and Well System .... However, the mission changed once they were on the ground when they discovered the needs were much greater.
“No one had any communications, so the mission morphed to communications,” she said. “But, we did both.”
I’m glad the initial volunteers were able to do a lot of good. They stayed past their original deployment commitment. I don’t begrudge the volunteers needing to get back home to take care of their personal lives — I’m grateful they were there as long as they have been.
But with phone communications still at only %60~ (http://status.pr) , I don’t understand why another call for volunteers is not going out.
The ARRL/RedCross volunteers will be replaced by DHS employees.
Ten SHARES (Shared Resources) HF Radio Program operators will replace the Amateur Radio volunteers who had worked on behalf of the Red Cross. These SHARES operators are federal employees who happen to be radio amateurs and volunteered for the duty in Puerto Rico. Hotzfeld said they will be stationed in four different zones, with two operators at headquarters in the San Juan Convention Center. “The hospitals did not want us to leave,” Hotzfeld said. “They were begging us to stay.” She noted, though, that the hospitals also have access to satellite telephones.
“I was so proud of our guys,” Hotzfeld said in summary. “They were rock stars.”
Now would be the time to send more help to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, not less.