More than two decades after the deadly West Warwick The Station Nightclub fire, Tom Senarchia KA1VAY (above left) remains mission-driven to promote public health & safety awareness with inclusive whole community outreach.
Tom KA1VAY is the Founding President of RI AEM (the state-wide Association of Emergency Managers). Building on his career as a West Warwick Emergency Management professional, he is now also a Pastor. This September, he opened the doors of the Cornerstone of Faith UMC in Coventry for a long-planned Health & Safety Fair that welcomed the community. It was a blue sky New England late summer day, and people from across RI steadily dropped by to chat with representatives from the United Way’s 211 program and the RI Dept of Health’s Special Needs Emergency Registry, and more. There was food and fun and a chance to discover just how many older women at this event had fond memories of their now-Silent Key dad’s active on Amateur Radio.
Outside, Jeremy Taylor K1JST – our tireless young professional RI Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) – set up the RI ARES table and greeted everyone, listening patiently to understand how best to be helpful. For some, Jeremy K1JST suggested ways to get started. To others, ways to get more involved (or involved again) in ARES.
K1OS Ocean State Amateur Radio Club was represented by club president, Michael Melancon N1VSU. Ocean State Amateur Radio Club (K1OS) participates every June in ARRL Field Day from the Providence EMA with operators Joe Del Giudice, K1CR and Matt Hackman, KB1FUP. They are co-located on ARRL Field Day in Providence with the PEMA RACES team led by Barry Noel, W1BSN – operating with the Amateur Radio call sign KK1PMA.
A shared theme was this: radio amateurs (old and young) can support FEMA’s Lifelines and Situational Awareness mission.
New possibilities unfolded for how a local faith center or Scout or Senior group could get members licensed and bring Plan-B resilient communication skills to their community.
In-person community outreach and collaboration like this Health & Safety Fair are more meaningful than ever in 2024.
For more information on how to get involved with Amateur Radio and RI-ARES, see RIARES.org and RI-ARRL.org and https://www.arrl.org/new-ham-resources
More remarkable RI leaders: New England Division Marine Corp Chaplain Jane Deptula (standing front) who organizes an annual interfaith servant leadership Four Chaplains Memorial Service on the first Sunday in February at the Cornerstone of Faith UMC in Coventry, Rhode Island.
The Service of the Four Chaplains is held in recognition of the Dorchester Chaplains “who died rescuing civilian and military personnel as the American troop ship SS Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943, in what has been referred to as the second-worst sea disaster of World War II.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains
Many thanks to Tom Senarchia KA1VAY for organizing this successful outreach on a Blue Sky day.
More resources:
- https://health.ri.gov/publications/guides/EmergencyCommunicationBoard.pdf
- Rhode Island Special Needs Emergency Registry https://health.ri.gov/emergency/about/specialneedsregistry/index.php
- United Way 211 https://www.unitedway.org/our-impact/featured-programs/2-1-1