By SEAN HILDRETH, guest columnist
On Oct. 28, you may have seen volunteers from Rotary Club of Brown County and several local volunteer firefighters as they asked for donations to Fill the Boot.
This fundraiser was created in a response to our local fire departments having reduced funding available due to the ongoing pandemic. With less income from fundraisers, increased expenses, and no immediate relief in sight, Rotary members and BCCF came up with a plan to help.
Imagine operating an entire fire station, responding to over 200 emergency calls a year, on the same budget that you run your household on. Imagine the devastation these volunteers see, the harm they encounter, and the lives and property they save without any promise of a salary, physical or mental health benefits, or the basic necessities to do their jobs like equipment or gas money for their trucks.
Imagine the type of selfless hero that signs up for this and then goes out on the weekends to fry fish and sell barbecue sandwiches to keep the lights on at the firehouse so you can be protected in the event of an emergency.
“They’re looking out for us, so our entire community needs to look out for them,” said Maddison Miller, the CEO of the Brown County Community Foundation.
The BCCF has received funding requests from many fire departments since the start of the pandemic. The needs were initially presented in the form of personal protective equipment, but soon evolved to operating expenses when community fundraisers had to be cancelled due to safety concerns. They need money for insurance, utilities, equipment payments, fuel.
BCCF can’t fulfill every request, so we have to question how the county plans to support them either through their CARES Act distribution or through other budgetary means.
“I would like to see the fire departments come together with the county to develop a long-term strategy for funding emergency services, because it can’t continue this way. It’s not safe,” Miller said.
Most fire departments do not even have funds to support regular staffing in the firehouse in the event of a call. So the volunteers have to drive from their homes to the firehouse, suit up, jump on the truck, and then respond. This adds 15, 20, 30 minutes to emergency calls where response times are crucial, sometimes life and death.
When we saw First Responders Day was on the calendar, we knew this was the perfect opportunity to leverage a national day of recognition to support the local women and men who keep us safe.
Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self” and they lived it on Oct. 28. Many club members are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 due to their age, but they came out during the busiest season of the year, all of them masked, interacted with the public, talked about the needs of our volunteer fire departments, and handled thousands of dollars of cash.
A huge thank you to the locations that allowed these volunteers to solicit donations:
- Town of Nashville for the Village Green Pavilion and highly trafficked intersections
- Nashville BP gas station
- Nashville IGA
- Bear Hardware
- Gnaw Mart
An even bigger thank-you to our volunteers from the Brown County Rotary Club, Jackson Township VFD, Hamblen Township VFD, Cordry-Sweetwater VFD, and the Brown County VFD.
As of Oct. 29, we are 79 percent of the way to a goal of $6,000. If we can do a small push and ensure that each department receives $1,000, it is going to help.
Donations collected will be split evenly with all six Brown County volunteer fire departments.
These amazing volunteers put their safety on the line to help their fellow Brown County residents. We want you to consider a gift of any amount to help during this trying year. You can donate by texting the code FILLTHEBOOT to 44321, or by checks made out to BCCF sent to P.O. Box 191, Nashville, IN 47448.
We will be taking donations for this effort until Nov. 9, so make your donation today to help.
We have also been working this month to boost the endowment funds that support many of our local volunteer fire departments. These funds were established by the fire departments to help provide income for their unrestricted operating expenses. Some funds help to finance the acquisition of firefighting equipment and facilities.
Having an endowment allows the departments to leverage matching donation opportunities offered by grantmaking organizations like BCCF and the Lilly Endowment Inc. The funds can also be used as an investment account, squirreling away savings, allowing them to grow and pay dividends over time. However, they are very rarely used that way. Our fire departments operate on shoestring budgets and really need every penny they raise in the here and now.
We currently have funds for the following departments:
- Fruitdale est. 2001
- Hamblen est. 2000
- Brown County (Nashville) est. 1996
- Jackson est. 2000
If you would like to make a gift to an invested endowment fund to help your local firefighters, your donation will help with operational expenses as part of an annual income disbursement from their associated fund. Text BCHEROES to 44321 to contribute to the endowment funds that annually support the departments listed above.
The Brown County Community Foundation has the best interests of the community at heart. By supporting charitable organizations in broad areas of community need — education, social services, health care, arts and humanities, and environment — we help build a stronger, healthier Brown County.
If you have any questions, please contact us at 812-988-4882.
Sean Hildreth is the marketing, communications and outreach officer for the Brown County Community Foundation Inc. He can be reached at 812-988-4882 or [email protected].
