Meet Tom Quinlan

CLUB: Kiwanis Club of Conifer, Colorado

HAM RADIO OPERATOR: Tom has been a Ham radio operator for more than 50 years.

HAMMING IN HONDURAS: As part of International Health Service (IHS) (link to www.ihsofmn.org), medical health-care missions to Honduras, Tom uses his Ham skills to communicate with other health teams in the nation, pass along requests of supplies, and “keep tabs on progress or problems other teams might be having.”

“I go mainly as a radio operator, but with the understanding that I can be asked to do everything from washing dishes to peeling potatoes, what ever it takes to get the job done,” he says.

BEYOND HAMMING: This past year, Tom also accompanied HIS’s first nonmedical mission in Honduras, serving the SOS Children’s Village—a home for children abandoned, orphaned, or removed from their families by social services. During the mission, Tom helped re-roof a house, wire and install clothes dryers, build playground equipment, repair bicycles, and paint roofs and interiors.

Tom also—through donations from Colorado Kiwanis clubs—bought six bicycles, spare parts, and tire pumps for the SOS Children’s Village. And, a church helped him collect used laptop computers, which he installed at the children’s village. He and another volunteer gave computer tutorials to older children so they, in turn, can teach the younger children to use the computers.

WHY HE DOES IT: “I have been very blessed in my life. I have had several serious health issues, and I am grateful to be alive. It’s payback time.

“We have so much; we can’t take it for granted. We need to be reminded of how lucky we are. It’s a good feeling to know you left the place a little better than you found it. And there is always next year.”