Recently I heard about an event called the Tour de Cure put on by the American Diabetes Association and wanted to help somehow. Anyone can put out snacks or fill drink cups, but why not try to find a way to use my Overland skills to help in a way that others can't?
There are a couple of special skills that went into gaining my Overland Certification that were of interest to the event organizers, but packing a fridge or winching out a stuck bicycle weren't it.
However having Wilderness First Responder training has value helping at a rest stop and being a amateur radio operator has value in almost all aspects of an event of like this.
Since the Maricopa Country Emergency Communication Group had the radio aspect covered, great bunch of people by the way, I offered to be the medic at a rest stop. If you have a chance to do things like this it is not only a great way to be of service to the community but also meet some fun people.
I felt lucky that we only had one false alarm of a medical nature and even then I had a chance to use my ham radio to stay in touch with the ham at the rest stop while I jogged up the street to check things out.
It is interesting how often people check out my rig, or hear about my trips and call it all “fun and games”, however to me there is more than just fun to life and using my rig, my skills or my resources to help others while having fun gives it all a bit more meaning.
It would be great to hear from others about how they have put their rigs or skills to use for Meals on Wheels, helping during foul weather or ??