JohnTWinskas Blogger Blog

   John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event :  Saturday & Sunday June 28th & 29th 6:00 AM june 28th to 12:00pm june 29th FFARA Field Day, Ashton Brosnahan Park, Pensacola, FL FFARA field day- day 1of 2;  met sonny at ESAR building at 5:45am;  filled coolers with ice;  rode with sonny to ashton brosnaham park to set up for FFARA field day;  Helped set-up tables,  hang & tie banners assisted standing up 35’ mast antenna,  swept dirt from covered concrete area near tables and equipment, introduced myself to/spoke to several FARRA Members  asked them about about their ham experience & listened to their hobby projects suggestions;  had a couple cookies for lunch;  listened to several W4UC members making QSO contacts, (maybe listened to 20 QSO contacts(was too tired due to lack of sleep to talk on radio);  sat down with FARRA members and ate dinner with the field day participants  (had a greek spinach with f...

   John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event :  Thursday, Juen 26, 2025 06:00 PM-07:30 PM-Northwest Florida Annual Meeting and Volunteer Recognition- Greater Little Rock Baptist Church 901 North A Street, Pensacola, FL  32501 Walked to the American Red Cross Northwest Florida Annual Meeting and Volunteer Recognition event at Greater Little Roc Baptist Church 901 North A Street, Pensacola, FL  32501 from home 1517 e Lloyd st., Pensacola, FL, 32503 at 4:00pm (stopped in walgreens to get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the way to the event). Arrived at the Greater Little Roc Baptist Church at around 4:45pm waited in parking lot until another Red Cross Volunteer guided me to the entrance at 5:00pm ( an hour before the event was set to start. Met Terri again, began helping set up tables,  adjusted the position of the chairs. tied around 20 loop swoop and pull bow knots on the sombrero decorations. placed the miniature sombrero around the center pieces of the tab...

  John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event :  Wednesday, June 26th, 6:00pm ESAR comms meeting ;7:00pm ESAR General Meeting, 9530 Nims Lane, Pensacola, Fl, 32534  Took bus at 4:40pm to Regions bank & 9 mile rd. Walked to Escambia Search & Rescue Building for meeting Met with Joshua, Shannon, Johnny, Johnny, and 2 other comms members (please, forgive me if I forgot your names). Heard from Comms team about upcoming comms training, FARRA field day, & upcoming SERT training at eoc (700 & 800 trainings may be required). Talked to Shannon about his previous experiences at responsibilities at the FARRA field day. He answered questions about what time he normally arrives to the event to help ESAR set up for the field day and his involvement in helping other ESAR, FFARA, and other field day participants find the correct location in the park.  He also mentioned he will be an active participant and that I will be able to hear him on the radio talking to other lic...

John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event :  Saturday, June 21st, 2025, 9:00am-11:00am, Brace Firecorp Monthly Training -150 E. Maxwell St, Pensacola, FL 32503, United States Left home at around 7:45am. Walked 2 miles to the BRACE building at 150 W. Maxwell st, Pensacola, FL 32503. Met Bonita & 2 fire corp trainees/members. Ate a Muffin and a Banana. Reviewed Firecorp training slides. Learned about upcoming events.  Walked 2 miles home-11:00am-2:30pm Walked to Fish & Loaves thrift store (bought a few toiletries to hand out). Gave about $2.60, a lighter, a bag of toiletries, and a few pamplets/business cards of local support services to James who I met on my way to Fish & Loaves thrift store. Walked to Publix replaced the Milk, paprika, and the bottle of syrup (bought an extra bottle of syrup for syrup-butter) that I ate during the past month and replaced the red pepper flakes I ran out of a few weeks ago (I have been using black pepper as a substitute for the red pe...

 John Thomas Winskas Attended Event-Friday, June 2nd, 7:30pm-8:00pm FFARA-Wiley Rascals- 146.76 repeater -Five Flags Amateur Radio Association Missed most of the discussion as I forgot to tune in the 146.76 repeater and my radio battery ran out of charge been listening to a lot of NOAA weather recently due to the thunderstorms.

 John Thomas Winskas  Volunteered/attened at Event:  Saturday, June 20⋅10:00am – 6:30pm, Juneteenth Unityfest- EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition , - Adoration For A New Beginning, 920 W Government St, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA . Left home at 10:30am Walked 3 miles to Juneteenth Unity Fest  Arrived at event around 11:15am Tabled Escarosa Suicide Prevention Coalition tent with Rachelle Burns (Rachelle took donations from Unity fest attendees). 988 suicide prevention magnets, stickers, wrist bands, and information pamphlets were available for attendees of the event Rachelle explained the Escarosa Suicide Prevention Coalition's mission, purpose and the organizations that make up the coalition such as NAMI. Rachelle explained her roles & responsibilities as Chair of the Escarosa Suicided prevention Coalition. Ate a giant piece of watermelon, a tangerine, powerade and stayed hydrated (had 3-4 cups of water) from the UnityFest event tables & staff while tableing ...

John Thomas Winskas Volunteered at  Event : Volunteered at Event:  Saturday, June 14⋅8:00am – 12:30pm, American Red Cross NWFL FPL Community Storm Expo & Touch-a-Truck Saturday, - FPL, 1 Energy Pl, Pensacola, FL 32520. Volunteered and tabled the American Red Cross Tent, alongside Terri Jenkins, Duke Pruitt and Laura Pruitt at the NWFL FPL Community Storm Expo & Touch-a-Truck event at  FPL, 1 Energy Pl, Pensacola, FL 32520. Handed out close to 40 American Red Cross posters, hurricane preparedness packets (hurricane kit preparedness facemasks, Soap, & pens). The table had information on the American Red Cross Free Fire Alarm installation program (in partner-ship with the Local fire departments), volunteer sign-up information sheets, upcoming Veteran support information sessions, and upcoming CPR & First aid training from the American Red Cross among others. Escambia County Emergency Manager Travis Thompkins also stopped by our table among others! I got ...

John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event : Attended Event: Friday, June 7th 7:30am to 1:30 pm  - Wonders of the Word Ministries charity food giveaway 57th & Lyllian hwy.  Preston Marvel instructed me to volunteer at the pod Wonders of the Word ministries charity food giveaway event instead of the BRACE disaster Dash. Jogged to bus stop to make route 2 bus at 6:08am at Brainerd & palafox. Got to bus stop at 6:00 am; got on wrong bus to Correy station gate. walked to 57th  and  n. Lyllian hwy. from Correy station gate. Arrived at Wonders of the word ministries Charity food giveaway event around 7:15am Wore Brace reflective vest during event Started unfolding and taping boxes  Unfolded/setup tables.  Unfolded boxes. Taped boxes,  Emptied banana boxes for extra food boxes;  placed food times, peanut butter, raisins, jelly, in boxes for charity food giveaway.  Directed traffic for east line of cars; helped load yogurt/"milk", and rasberrie...

   John Thomas Winskas-KR4DYC- Attended Event : Saturday, June 6th, 2025 3:00pm-7:00pm, BRACE Pre-disaster dash- packet pick-up -Fleet Feet, 236 W Garden St suite 1, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA,  Met with Preston and Robin at the BRACE Disaster Dash-Packet Pickup - Friday, June 6, 2025 from Task Time 2;30 pm to 3:30 pm CDT Event and Discussed upcoming BRACE; Preston and Robin warned me that the upcoming hurricane training at the Escambia Public saftey building is actually pernounced "Her-icane" and that "Her-icane' training may not be the same as the hurricane training I might be expecting at a public safety event! I might have to head Preston and Robin's warning and disinvite myself from the "Her-icane" training at the escambia county public safety building. Thank you Robin and Preston for the warning!  Preston mentioned there are volunteer opportunites at the blue angels airshow event handing out water. Preston recommended that I participate for BRACE in...

  John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event : Attended Event: Friday, June 6th 10:00AM-2:00PM  - Volunteering for American Red Cross-PNS HFC installs!, 9111 Sturdevant Street,   Pensacola, FL, 32514 . Pre event: brief We will be working with SAF and soldiers from Eglin AFB to install smoke alarms in Escambia County.We will begin with Safety Briefing at PNS Office - 9111 Sturdevant Street at 10 amReturn to office by 2 pm for After Action and light lunch. Event summary: Got a ride from my Dad to the Pensacola NWFL American Red Cross building at 9111 sturdevant street at 9:30 am and arrived at 10:00am  Volunteering for American Red Cross-PNS HFC installs: Knocked on a few doors and handed out a few Fire alarms with  Pensacola NWFL chapter of the American Red Cross; There was a bit of drama; I may have accidentally misread the directions on the American Red Cross fire alarms and accidentally switched 5 of the American Red Cross Fire Alarms into the off position ...

  John Thomas Winskas  Attended Event : Attended Event-June 3rd 12:30PM-2PM - EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition - General Monthly Meeting-microsoft teams meeting- 1517 e lloyd. st. Pensacola, FL, 32503. Rachelle Burns review EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition community partners, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities areas where volunteers are needed Task force etc. that may be available with their organizations and partnering organizations. I look forward to continuing to learn more about ways to assist the community as a volunteer!

   John Thomas Winskas Attended  Event :  Attended Even t-Monday , June  2nd, 6:30pm-FFARA-Elmersnet And 7:30 ARES net- 146.76 repeater  - Five Flags Amateur Radio Association