<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3c.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16674" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=kd4efm@kd4efm.org href="mailto:kd4efm@kd4efm.org">Laura
Pennington</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=paulwomble@polkfl.com
href="mailto:paulwomble@polkfl.com">Paul Womble <PCEM></A> ; <A
title=Polkares@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:Polkares@yahoogroups. Com">Polkares@yahoogroups. Com</A> ; <A
title=POLKGMRS@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:POLKGMRS@yahoogroups.com">POLKGMRS@yahoogroups.com</A> ; <A
title=polkemcomm@yahoogroups.com href="mailto:polkemcomm@yahoogroups.com">Polk
EMCOMM (Polk EMCOMM)</A> ; <A title=LakelandARC@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:LakelandARC@yahoogroups.com">LakelandARC@yahoogroups.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, July 25, 2008 1:19 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [LakelandARC] FW: Polk County
ARES Membership Update</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV id=ygrp-text>
<P>** Copy of the ATTACHED EXCEL SHEET can be downloaded from the
polkemcomm<BR>web site ** <BR><A
href="http://www.polkemcomm.org">http://www.polkemco<WBR>mm.org</A><BR><BR>Hello
from the Polk County ARES Staff - <BR><BR>As the ARES Guidelines require, we
must update our membership roster<BR>annually. In addition, we have been
working to restructure our membership<BR>classifications and requirements. Our
current records show that you are<BR>either a current Polk ARES member, or
have previously indicated that you are<BR>interested in joining our
organization. As a reminder, there are no<BR>membership dues to join ARES
(however as we do not collect dues, we do not<BR>host picnics,
etc.).<BR><BR>Please review the below membership information.<WBR>..if you are
interested in<BR>joining or continuing your membership, please complete the
attached Member<BR>Information form and return it by reply email or bring it
with you to a<BR>regular meeting (held the last Thursday of each month, at the
Polk County<BR>EOC). Our next meeting is this coming Thursday, July 31, 2008,
at 6:30 PM<BR>(for map and more info - <A
href="http://www.polkemcomm.org/meetings.htm">http://www.polkemco<WBR>mm.org/meetings.<WBR>htm</A>).
We will be<BR>sending out similar forms on an approximately annual basis to
ensure that<BR>our records remain up-to-date. In the meantime, should your
information<BR>change, feel free to reply to this email or send an email
to<BR>"<A
href="mailto:info%40polkemcomm.org">info@polkemcomm.<WBR>org</A>"<BR><BR>All
ARES members will be issued Polk County ARES ID Cards upon receipt of<BR>the
attached form and a usable photo. Photos should be a 'head and<BR>shoulders'
type shot of the individual, or one that can be suitably cropped<BR>- please
do not send group photos. They can either be sent by email in a<BR>.JPG
format, or we will be taking photos at our regular meetings and
other<BR>activities. We are working with the County to produce these ID's, and
they<BR>should be available at the August meeting for those who complete forms
and<BR>submit photos in the next few weeks.<BR><BR>Polk ARES Membership
Information:<BR><BR>The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) minimum requirements
for ARES<BR>membership are simple: members must hold an amateur license and
have an<BR>interest in community service. Membership cards will be issued to
all<BR>members who meet the ARRL's basic requirements, regardless of
membership<BR>type. However, due to additional requirements from the agencies
we serve,<BR>certain training must be completed prior to becoming a fully
deployable<BR>member of the Polk County ARES organization. Therefore, in order
to<BR>accommodate the spirit of ARES as intended by the ARRL while still
providing<BR>a usable service to the Community, Polk ARES has set forth three
membership<BR>classifications.<BR><BR>* Full Member: A full member in the
organization has met all the<BR>requirements of our served agencies, and as
completed all requested<BR>training. As such, a Full Member is fully
deployable and able to serve in<BR>any communications capacity foreseen by the
organization. Members seeking<BR>staff-level appointments may be asked to
complete additional training beyond<BR>what is required for Full Membership.
In addition to the ARRL minimum<BR>requirements, the following qualifications
and training are currently<BR>required for Full Membership:<BR><BR>* must be
18 years of age<BR><BR>* must reside in Polk County<BR><BR>* must update
membership information annually<BR><BR>* must participate regularly in
meetings, nets, and public service<BR>events<BR><BR>* must complete ARRL
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course<BR>Level 1 (Level 2 is
recommended)<BR><BR>* must complete FEMA online Independent Study Courses or
EMI<BR>equivalents:<BR><BR>* IS-100<BR><BR>* IS-200<BR><BR>* IS-700<BR><BR>*
IS-800<BR><BR>* ICS-300 (staff)<BR><BR>* Associate Member: This designation is
for members who wish to<BR>become Full Members, but are still working on
attaining the requirements.<BR>This also encompasses "junior" members - those
who are not yet 18 years of<BR>age.<BR><BR>* Supporting Member: This member
classification is available for<BR>those who want to be a part of the
organization but are unable to make a<BR>full participation and/or time
commitment. This could include those who are<BR>employed in emergency services
fields, have existing commitments to other<BR>emergency service organizations,
are seasonal residents, or otherwise cannot<BR>meet the expectations of Full
Membership. All membership types will be<BR>involved in all ARES activities
including emergency response; it is just<BR>understood that Supporting Members
may have primary commitments elsewhere.<BR><BR>Now that you've reviewed the
new membership types, hopefully you've found<BR>one that can fit into your
life! If so, then please fill out and return the<BR>attached form. The
information collected on the form will be used to build<BR>our membership
roster, contact you in the event of activation, and will not<BR>otherwise be
shared outside the organization.<BR><BR>We hope to see you
soon...73!<BR><BR>Laura Pennington<BR><BR>KI4ZJX<BR><BR>Assistant Emergency
Coordinator<BR><BR>Polk County ARES<BR><BR></P></DIV><!--End group email --></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>