That’s basically what we’ve been doing, BA. In reality, that’s precisely what Amateur Radio IS anyway. There’s certainly a hobby aspect to it, but many amateurs are involved in providing emergency communications when necessary, and they practice this, prepare and keep their equipment ready for the moment’s notice.
There are others involved in satellite communications and Amateurs have launched many satellites into space. The International Space Station contains a full set of both voice and digital radio gear, and nearly every American and most Russian Astronauts are also amateur radio operators as well.
Ham radio is something that most people don’t “see”, but it can be felt. Everything from digital communications we use today in Wifi systems, to cellular telephones, satellites and other forms of communications (not to MENTION computers) had it’s beginning somewhere on the desk of a Ham Radio Operator. Every piece of technology out there has been touched in some way by Amateur radio and had it’s meager beginnings with Ham radio at some point or another.
I know a lot of hams myself, so I keep aware of the field's capabilities and controversies.
The general public - I'm talking about the educated, tech-aware demographic - has two negative perceptions of the ham community. Age is the big one ("I went to one of those ham swap meets, and saw a sea of wheelchairs and oxygen tanks..."). There is also a pereption of irrelevancy. Hams get credit for being the first geeks, for doing all the pioneer work in radio propagation that got commercial radio started, then led to all those other applications throughout the twentieth century. But now there is a perception that the ham service, hemmed in as it is by regulation and limited by international treaty to the lowest common denominator of rights granted by all the different cultures of the world, is no longer relevant in a day when a Web service can deliver encrypted global communications instantly. I have heard this called the "You can't even order pizza" problem.
The ham community needs to counter these perceptions if it's going to survive. A major emphasis on emergency management could do this. Ham clubs could help organize and coordinate emergency response o disaster in their community. It would take just one instance of "hams banding together during a hurricane" to change the public's perception of the field.