Volunteers can help in many ways. A few of the possibilities are listed below. With a little thought, you could probably come up with some additional suggestions.
People living in the area around Champaign-Urbana and Decatur, Illinois can:
- Analyze the condition of second-hand donated equipment, repair and restore it to good operating condition and test it to see how it performs under actual operating conditions. Keep an inventory of each piece of equipment and its current status and location.
- Evaluate equipment. We especially need a qualified broadcast engineer who is not a member or staff person of PCP to establish fair market values for donated equipment, in order to satisfy the Internal Revenue Service.
People living in Illinois and surrounding states can:
- Visit prospective equipment donors to judge the utility of proposed donations.
- Develop good relations with donors and potential donors.
- Pick up donations and transporting them to our shop near Monticello, IL. If you can supply a truck or van for this purpose, so much the better.
- Scout for resources which would be useful to PCP. Keep a watchful eye for equipment, people who might like to help us, or possible sources of funding.
People throughout North and Central America can:
- Drive a truck full of equipment from Illinois to project sites in Central America (with one other person or even as part of a convoy)
- Consult on computer or radio engineering problems. This would entail finding remedies for problems in existing equipment and software, or help in designing new equipment.
- Train workers in developing countries to use and maintain the equipment we supply. Experience in radio engineering or programming or in computer hardware and software as well as proficiency in the local language (usually Spanish) is required.