article from The Floyd Press May 6, 2010

The Floyd Amateur Radio Society (FARS) has received its affiliation with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the National Organization for Amateur Radio in the United States. This affiliation will let the Society receive grants for educational use, publications for Amateur Radio at a reduced cost, and assistance with training new operators in the use of Amateur Radio. The affilitation will also let the Society have access to the “Clubs” page on the www.arrl.org web page.

The Society is working on getting some of the local “Hams” certified as Volunteer Examiners. The VE’s will be able to test new “Hams” and also the hams that are upgrading to a higher license.

Ma James, as she was known, was born on the 5^th of December 1912. Mabel Moir James’ father, named Stedman Moir’ was born in Scotland and served in the British Administration as a Magistrate. Her mother was Bertha Roberts, a born Dominican with family in St. Kitts. As a child she grew up living with the Methodist Minister and his wife who expressed interest in adopting her. However her mother was not in agreement. Mabel was gifted with a beautiful voice and sang with the choir.

The Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service was created as an idea during a train trip from Moscow to the Western Ukraine. There were five Americans visiting Ukrainian and Russian friends. The visit was set up to distribute donated equipment in Russia and Ukraine. It seemed that a formal group was needed to do this type of volunteer work in an organized way on a regular basis...

One of the great joys for me, working in the LCF Group office and at FAIRS headquarters in Floyd, Virginia, is to receive a "thank you" inthe mail! Whether from a client who's been well served or fromrecipient of donated services, money or equipment from our FAIRS(Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service, Ltd.) foundation,some few words of thanks spur us on to continue and do better.