2006 Community Report
In January of 2004 the Professional Firefighters of Northshore Fire Department began searching for creative ways to become more involved in our local community. Throughout our daily activities as Firefighters/ EMT’s we quickly discovered there were numerous opportunities to go above and beyond the call of duty to assist the citizens of our community. We also realize the opportunities were not always ones to be accomplished while on duty. For that reason we formed the Philanthropy Committee comprised of Local 2459 members. The Philanthropy Committee is our way of voluntarily participating in building a stronger community by offering a helping hand to those in need.
In addition to our Philanthropy Committee for community involvement, we also formed a project with 100% department participation of Northshore Fire Department employees and commissioners called, From the Heart. From the Heart is a program where donated resources are primarily used to purchase Holiday meals and Christmas gifts for families in need.
Now that you know a little more of what we do when we’re not working, we invite you to read some of our accomplishments from 2006. Enjoy!
2006 Philanthropy Report
This has been a very successful year for the Philanthropy Committee. We measure our success by the positive impact on people’s lives and 2006 brought us to a level of success we may never fully comprehend.
Throughout the course of the year some projects surface, some requests for projects are made and when they do we are ready to assist our community members. In years past we have spent a lot of time establishing programs and community relationships. In 2006 we were able to reap the benefit from that work. We maintained our participation in programs such as: Big Brothers/Big Sisters of King County, and the From the Heart Program. We also maintained our relationships with the Family Services Coordinators from the Kenmore Elementary School, Brookside Elementary School, Northshore YMCA, Hopelink, and established new relationships with NW Burn Foundation, and Food Lifeline.
2006 has been a very busy year for most yet there have been more individuals who have volunteered their time than in years past. A special thank you goes out to those who have donated their time to making a difference in our community.
The following list represents the Philanthropy Committee and the From the Heart accomplishments for 2006, happy reading!!
- We have four members who participated in the Big Brothers of King County program. This is the fourth school year the Local has participated in this program, and the fourth year these individuals have mentored the same children. http://www.volunteersolutions.org/uwkc/org/219189.html
- We participated in a fundraiser for the Northwest Burn Foundation, raising $1526.00. Several members volunteered their personal time and in some cases families participated as well. www.nwburn.org
- Thanksgiving Food Drive: One of our firefighters had a great idea of hosting a food drive that supported Food Lifeline. Food Lifeline is a local charity organization that serves individuals and families in our region. www.foodlifeline.org
- Thanksgiving. The Local agreed to sponsor three families for Thanksgiving this year. This was above our commitment to the From the Heart program. Each family has a unique testimony of trials, stress, financial hardships, or just bad luck. Our goal is to look through the life stress of our community members and bless their lives with simple gestures as providing a holiday meal. Each family was very grateful to receive their meal. The selections of the families were screened through the Family Service Coordinators at Kenmore Elementary and Brookside Elementary schools.
- Christmas- This was our best year to date! We partnered up with Hopelink to host a Toy Drive that raised hundreds of toys for families in our local community. The From the Heart program was able to purchase Christmas presents and Christmas dinners for two families in our District. Each family has its unique set of circumstances; the first family was a single mother with two children that is struggling financially, and the other family is a mother, her four children, and her granddaughter who were victims of extreme domestic violence. The screening process for this event was done through the Northshore YMCA’s Single Parent Family Program Coordinator. Each person that participated in this year’s event not only blessed someone else’s life but they too, were blessed by helping others in need.http://www.seattleymca.org
- Emergency Shelter. A request was made to NSFD to help staff an Emergency Shelter hosted at Bethany Baptist and organized by the City of Kenmore. Eight individuals/family members of the Northshore Fire Department volunteered to commit several hours of time staffing the shelter. Finally, days prior to Christmas, members of NSFD were able to sponsor a family to three nights at the Kenmore Motel. This family was displaced as a result of the wind storm and unable to return home when the Shelter at Bethany Baptist closed its doors. We were able to get them through Christmas until other resources became available.
