VoV Alert Team is Seeking Volunteers

If you’ve ever seen one of the blinking yellow lights around the island and tuned to 1650AM to hear a ferry alert, or read about a big storm on Voice of Vashon’s Facebook page, then you can thank members of the VoV Emergency Alert Team.

Alert Team volunteers rotate their 24/7 emergency watches every week. They get bulletins from King County Roads, King County Metro Transit service, Washington State DOT, Vashon-specific weather, Amber Alerts and Puget Sound Energy. These sources provide valuable information pertinent to Vashon-Maury Island traffic and safety.

Team members send their reports via an electronic system to VoV’s website, Facebook page and VashonALL. Then they announce them on 1650AM radio when necessary and the alerts are often shared on KVSH-FM as well. For the AM broadcasts, team members dial in to a recording device housed at the VoV studios that transmits their recorded report to the AM station and automatically turns on the flashing lights at each of the four signs on Vashon and Maury Islands. 1650AM Alerts are now available on the VoV smartphone app where listeners can also hear KVSH 101.9FM shows.

Alert Team volunteers are trained to broadcast live at the VoV studio in the event of a serious emergency like a major storm, earthquake or terrorist attack. These broadcasts are coordinated with the Emergency Operations Center and VashonBePrepared.

There are currently seven volunteers with Voice of Vashon’s 1650AM Alert Team. Luke McQuillin is the Team Leader; Jane Slade is a busy mother of two; Jeanne Dougherty is a VoV founder and long-time volunteer, semi-retired actor, Morning Scramble rambler and grandma; Michael Golen-Johnson is also a VoV founder, volunteer KVSH recording engineer and works off island for BECU as a tech trainer; March Twisdale is an Island community activist, author and show host for KVSH’s Prose, Poetry & Purpose; Leila Khatapoush is an Island entrepreneur and maker of kambucha; and Susan McCabe is VoV’s Station Manager, Wednesday Morning Scramble show co-host, minister and free-lance writer.

The group recently made a humorous video to recruit new Alert Team members to support this important community service – a bigger team is a more efficient team. All you need is a desire to serve our community and a smart phone.

Watch the video and learn more about joining the VoV Emergency Alert Team at VoiceOfVashon.org or write to Team Leader Luke McQuillin at luke.mcquillin@voiceofvashon.org.