The Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association has voted to become a Handi-ham Affiliated Club at its April 7, 2005 business meeting, according to SEMARA President Tim Smith, N1TI.
“The club has made a commitment to make Amateur Radio as accessible as possible for people with disabilities,” explains Smith. “Whenever we have a course, we can help [disabled persons] avail themselves of what Handi-ham has to offer in the way of study materials. The best part of becoming an affiliated club is that we all become more aware of the issues faced by disabled people.”
According to SEMARA newsletter editor Bob Kelley, K1KVV, “The notion of affiliated club status was mentioned by Phil Temples (K9HI) in a talk about the Courage Handi-ham program. I volunteered to bring this up for a vote at next business meeting.”
Courage Handi-ham System Manager Pat Tice, WA0TDA, was very pleased to receive the inquiry from the SEMARA gang. “We would love to have you on board,” he wrote to Kelley in an email response.
The Southeastern MA ARA counts among its members one of most active Handi-ham volunteers in the country: Bob Zeida, N1BLF. Zeida has been instrumental in supplying audio recordings of QST, Worldradio and other ham radio-related content for Handi-ham members. (See also “N1BLF CD Recordings for the Blind”.)