Mormon Churches as ARES Groups

I have received several calls lately from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints asking for an Amateur Radio presence at safety fairs they are putting on. I just received a call from a regional church leader who says he has 24 church members who have expressed an interest in attending a one-day HamCram.

My plan is to talk to the gentleman, HamCram those who are interested, do some follow-up training, appoint an Assistant Emergency Coordinator from among them, and see if we can use them as a responder group when we need hams. Maybe we will do an MOU.

I am working on getting the safety fairs lined up, too.

For those not familiar, emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency are important parts of the LDS faith. As is a strong involvement in community service. Sounds like a perfect bunch of ARES members to me.

I mention this because you might be smarter than I am and, instead of waiting for your LDS churches to find you, it might be worthwhile to seek them out and offer Amateur Radio as another tool they might want to use.