URGENT NOTE: RED CROSS TRAINNING AND MS150 DE-BRIEFING DATES!

[Evans F. Mitchell KD4EFM / AFA2TH / WQFK-894]

Good Evening,
	At the ARES meeting last Thursday, I made an error in setting the
date
for the MS150 Bike Race DE-BRIEFING to be during the April ARES Meeting.
This is NOT CORRECT!

The MS150 DEBRIEFING will be at the MAY POLK ARES MEETING. The MS150 runs
on the weekend of April 26th & 27th, as well as the Walk America on the
26th,
in Lakeland. For the MS150 participants, please keep all notes and
observations
with you until the May ARES Meeting when Jason, Thom, and if possible, Paul
T.,
will be back over to collect your data and information to pass onto the
MS150 Communications Committee. There could be an earlier date set for
this meeting, but, if time requires an earlier date, I will be sure to
pass this along as soon as I get the information. May ARES meeting is on
the 29th, starting time will be normal, at 6:30 pm.

HOWEVER, The American Red Cross Chapter of Polk County will still hold
it's THREE HOUR training course on 'Shelter Operations' April 24th
at the Polk ARES Monthly Meeting. This meeting will be starting at 6:00 PM,
due to the course being a THREE (3) hour course. Please plan accordingly
for this. Information and questions about this will be forthcoming, but
to make sure everyone has advanced notice about this event, I am letting
everyone know about it well in advance. This course will give you the
knowledge of what takes place at the shelters. It will not teach you
how to communicate via amateur radio while at the shelters. It is geared
so you as a communicator, will know what each role and what part these
persons
play while you are working at a shelter that you may be assigned to, and how
you can also help out. This will NOT tell you how you will be located along
with your communications gear or anything else like that. So don't presume
that this class will provide you with a blueprint layout of the shelter
either, this has been addressed earlier today and that will be brought
out later on this week when other information is made available to me.

I can not answer the questions that we, as hams, might have about the
policies
of the Red Cross, but I am sure that information will be made known to us
after the class is completed. Please make a note of your questions and
bring them with you to the class, and if time permits, those important
questions can be asked.

The class will be held at the Polk EOC, or if there are too many people to
fit in the EOC, the class will be moved into the Fire Services Training Room
which is located in the same building as the EOC.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me or contact me
as soon as possible.

Evans F. Mitchell KD4EFM/AFA2TH/WQFK-894
Polk ARES E.C.