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Growing
Compassion...
The Wildland Firefighter Foundation's Important
New Fundraising Campaign
Foresters say the
cone of the lodgepole pine cannot open and release its seeds
unless seared by fire. The seed that grew into the Wildland
Firefighter Foundation took root and sprouted out of the fire
of compassion on a warm night in July 1994 in south-central
New Mexico’s Lincoln National Forest.
A
commissary contractor working the fire woke before daylight
to find a camp in mourning and purple ribbons tied around
every tree. Fourteen firefighters had just perished in Colorado
on the unforgiving face of Storm King Mountain. The contractor
remembers standing by her rig and looking up at the pre-dawn
sky. “Help me help your families,” she whispered
to the stars. She didn’t know how; she just knew she
would. Vicki Minor is that kind of woman—a woman without
education who started Northwest Contractors with $58 and grew
it to more than a half-million dollars in just six weeks of
providing services and goods to firefighters in the camps.
On
the other side of the camp, Oklahoma hotshot crewmember Merlin
Orange took out a sheet of notebook paper and began to sketch
as his fellow firefighters sat in a circle around him. When
he was finished, they blessed the drawing with a smudge of
sweet grass and sage, and took it to Minor. She printed the
image on T-shirts—a line of firefighters marching up
the mountain into the sky—and raised $108,000 to help
the families. The seed had sprouted, but its future remained
far from certain.
Minor
and the growing number of friends and workers who had raised
the money wanted to make sure the families of the firefighters
who had sacrificed their lives would receive emergency financial
and emotional support. That’s how the idea of a foundation
just for wildland firefighters took hold. Minor and her gang
have been raising money and helping families ever since, even
though the Wildland Firefighter Foundation didn’t become
an official 501c3 until 1999. Minor, with no experience in
managing a nonprofit foundation, was named executive director.
It
hasn’t been easy. With the number of firefighter fatalities
and serious injuries that have occurred in the 10 years since
Storm King, Minor’s Foundation has distributed more
than a quarter-million dollars to surviving families.
Sometimes
the need exceeds the Foundation’s resources. Last year
Minor had to turn down a request for help because the “jar”
was empty. “I never again want to have to tell a family
that I can’t help them,” she says.
That
vow meant that the woman who had to learn to get up in front
of a room full of people to ask for money is experiencing
another “opportunity for personal growth,” as
she calls it. She and the Foundation have launched a vigorous
campaign to raise $1 million. She calls it The Power of One,
a beautifully simple concept in which a person contributes
$1 a week for 52 weeks to gain membership in the new 52 Club.
When multiplied by some 20,000 firefighters in the field,
this campaign will raise more than $1 million dollars for
helping families, maintaining the Foundation’s National
Wildland Firefighter Monument and educating the public about
the role wildland firefighters play in protecting our natural
resources and homes in the wildland-urban interface.
The
campaign is taking off. Contract firefighting companies are
challenging each other to match dollars contributed by their
firefighters. Hotshot crews are enthusiastic about participating.
The Lolo Hotshots in Montana are sending an extra donation
with its 52 Club pledges. Industries and associations, such
as the National Tree Fallers Association, are contributing
as well. Corporations, especially those who profit from supplying
the firefighting industry, are invited to step up and contribute
generously.
The
heart of the foundation is in Boise, Idaho, just a Pulaski
throw from the National Wildland Firefighter Monument created
by the Foundation and the National Interagency Fire Center
(NIFC). Bill Mitchell maintains the monument grounds without
compensation. Don Smurthwaite, BLM External Affairs Officer
for NIFC, says he and Mitchell write letters to the families
to let them know that a marker has been placed in their loved
one’s name. The Foundation also presents each family
with a replica of one of the bronze firefighter statues.
“This
is a place where the families continue to come long after
the casserole dishes are empty and the sympathy cards have
stopped arriving,” says Minor. “They visit the
monument and come by the office just to talk to us.”
When
a firefighter dies or suffers serious injuries, the Foundation
sends an emergency grant to their immediate family to help
with expenses. According to Minor, the money is especially
important for spouses and children of fallen firefighters
who may have been the main breadwinner. (She says death benefits
and other assistance may not kick in for months.) The Foundation
also helps families connect with other services to assist
with the grief and all the practical questions that arise
with such a loss.
“Our
connection with the families really never stops,” says
Minor. “Long after the check is cashed, the emotional
connection and support goes on … as long as they want
it.”
It’s been almost 10 years since that night in the Lincoln
National Forest when Minor beseeched the stars for a sign
of how she could help. Perhaps Evelyn Craven, who lost husband
Tom to the Thirtymile Fire in 2001, has answered her best:
“Today I finally deposited the check sent to me last
week. I can’t even begin to tell you what a relief it
was to see that I wouldn’t have to worry about making
ends meet. Tom was our sole provider for the family. I am
still so numb and just going through the motions of living
… I am trying to be strong for everyone and at least
I have a lot of help. I thank you for the sake of my sanity,
for the sake of my two beautiful children.”
Minor
says The Power of One multiplied by all the wildland firefighters
on the line and the generosity of a grateful public will ensure
the families left behind will be taken care of by the community
their fallen firefighters served with. I don’t doubt
it for a minute.
For information about how you can get involved, call the Wildland
Firefighter Foundation at 208/336-2996 or visit the 52 Club
link at WFF’s Web site at www.wffoundation.org.
*By
Leslie Habetler, Guest editorial for Wildland Firefighter
Magazine, June, 2004
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