Doing The Right Thing!

DTRT or “Do The Right Thing” is an acronym used by the F.O.O.L.S (Fraternal Order Of Leatherheads Society) link .

I’ve been thinking a lot about the FOOLS and what they stand for over the past few days. Their Mission Statement says ” The F.O.O.L.S. exemplify the true meaning of the Brotherhood by providing training opportunities to Brother and Sister Firefighters worldwide.  We organize benefits to assist not only a firefighter and their families in need, but our communities as well. The F.O.O.L.S. exist to strengthen the Brotherhood of our chosen profession and fuel the flame of passion we have for our calling”.

I’ve been thinking about them because Rhett Fleitz (FireCritic.com) and I are heading to Michigan this week to to speak for the KZOO FOOLS .

Find the KZOO FOOLS on Face Book HERE      KZOO FOOLS Web Site HERE

The Brothers and Sisters of the KZOO FOOLS teamed up with the Kalamazoo County Fire Chief’s Training Committee to bring us up for their 2014 Winter Seminar!

Well be doing a full days seminar on Saturday, beginning at 08:00am. We will be speaking about Social Media for the Fire Service, Professional Wellness (Mental and physical), Motivating Firefighters , Improving Morale and Building PRIDE in your Department from the ground up!

Click HERE to read more about the event from FireCritic.com

They are even holding a Brotherhood Bash later that evening! If you’re in the area, I don’t think it’s too late to attend either event.

You can find all the details by clicking HERE or by calling Captain Chip Everett directly at (269) 375-0487.

Have us speak at your event .. click HERE! 

Rhett and I are VERY excited to be speaking at this event! I do have to admit that I’m a little worried about the weather. I’ve been looking for a suitable pair of long johns to wear under my kilt but I haven’t been able to come up with anything. My wife suggested looking in the “ladies” sections for something she called the color of “nude” but nothing I’ve found would give the impression of hairy legs and I wouldn’t want the Brothers and Sisters of KZOO thinking I shave mine …LMAO.

We like to pack as much as possible into our trips so we’ll be leaving KZOO first thing Sunday morning and heading straight to Detroit.

Rhett and I both serve as Advisory Board Members for the National Firefighters Endowment (link) and we’ll be meeting a group of Brothers and Sisters from The Officers Club (link) who’ll be there working on our Detroit Mutual Aid project (link)! 

Most everyone on the job knows the hardships and struggles our Brothers and Sisters of the Detroit Fire Department face on a daily basis. Click HERE for the Detroit Firefighters web site .The NFE couldn’t sit idle and watch our Brothers and Sisters suffer. The Detroit Mutual Aid project was born and our mission simple ..

“As the world watches Detroit burn, firefighters across the nation are coming together in an unprecedented show  of Brotherhood & Sisterhood. We are determined to protect those on the front lines by providing life-saving equipment when they need it most. When one suffers, all suffer. When one is lifted up, all are lifted up”. 

Visit the Detroit Mutual Aid web site HERE

It’s been a HUGE undertaking but well worth every ounce of effort!

This is “Doing the Right Thing” at it’s finest …. firefighters helping firefighters.

I can’t list every member but I’d like to say a special and personal THANK YOU to our President, Shane Parkins, Board Members Bob Gard, Andrew Catron,and  Shiloh MacCabe for their leadership and STRONG, SOLID WORK on this project. THANKS as well to Jeremy Mullins  from Detroit Ladder 22 for helping us pull it all together.

Thanks to your support, the Detroit Mutual Aid Project will deliver close to $150,000.00 in much needed equipment to Detroit Firefighters this weekend!!

 

How AWESOME is that?!?! Almost ONE-HUNDRED and FIFTY-THOUSAND dollars worth of equipment going straight into the hands of Detroit firefighters!

I also need to THANK some of our Corporate Partners for helping make the project such a HUGE success.. Click on the following names for a link to their company web site and be sure to leave a message THANKING them for supporting the Fire Service!  Black Diamond , Pelican , Tempest , Black Jack , Feld Fire , TNT Tools , Detroit bus Company ,  The PIG , MN8 FoxFire  and Detroit Shields .

We’ll try to keep ya updated as well travel across the City dropping off the equipment. We are scheduled to visit 14 stations.

Here’s some video of Detroit in action ….

You can find the stations we’ll be visiting and see their “wish list” of equipment on our web page (I’ll give ya the link again below).

So it’s going to be a busy weekend for Rhett and I but we wouldn’t miss it for anything! It’s an HONOR for us to be associated with so many GREAT companies, organizations and members from all across the Country who are out there Doing The Right Thing!

You can keep updated on our progress through my Face Book page, I’ll include that link and some of the others again below …

Follow Ironfiremen.com on Face Book HERE

Find National Firefighters Endowment HERE

Visit Detroit Mutual Aid web site HERE

Stay SAFE and in House!

Captain Wines