Last Call Foundation

Hi!

Thanks for considering donating to my fundraiser to help LCF. As many of you know, I am a full-time Lieutenant with the Natick Fire Dept, part-time x-ray tech at Orthopedics New England, and a below-average beer league hockey player. I will be heading to Iowa in less than a week for RAGBRAI 2022. What the heck is that you say! RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) is a 470-mile bike ride with about 13,000 feet of elevation gain! The ride starts in the Western border town of Sargent Bluff, at the Missouri River. Riders dip their tires into the river and head East. Seven days later, we will end up in Lansing, IA, at the Mississippi River. It's a long ride but think of it as a moving party across Iowa in 100 degree heat.

So back to the fundraising part... I chose LCF as a charity because they have and continue to support firefighters around the country and it was started right here in Boston. Kathy Crosby-Bell, the mother of Boston Lieutenant Michael Kennedy, founded LCF after he tragically lost his life along with Lieutenant Edward Walsh on March 26th, 2014. In a horrible fire on an extremely windy day in the Back Bay of Boston, these two men went to work not knowing they wouldn't return home to their loved ones. The alarm for a fire came in as it has hundreds of times before for these guys. When they arrived on scene, they went to work, just like they have hundreds of times before. Unfortunately, this time the heat, smoke and fire inside was very intense and got behind them. They were left trapped but still had their hose line to protect them. They were calling on the radio to "charge the line" and waited for the water to come so they could knock the fire down. The water never arrived for them that fateful day because the fire actually burned through their hose line. Surrounded by fire, with no water supply is every firefighter's worst nightmare! Lt. Kennedy's mother decided she would not let these two men die in vain. She would do everything in her power to prevent this from happening to any of my brothers and sisters again, and creating a more fire resistant fire hose went to the top of her list.

Over the years I have been to many Line of Duty Death funerals of my fallen brothers and sisters in the fire service. I remember my first one when I was 25 years old, Lt. Steven Minehan, in June of 1994 like it was yesterday. Hopefully, the younger generation of firefighters today will see fewer tragedies over their careers because of the work that LCF is doing. Here are some examples of the great work and research that LCF is doing to keep firefighters safe now and in the future.

• A two-year grant awarded in 2020 from the Last Call Foundation funded DetecTogether ‘s creation of firefighter–specific Cancer Awareness, Early Detection and Medical Self Advocating education program. This program is now being taught across the commonwealth.

• Funding the Tufts University Research Project to identify currently available technologies able to be adapted to the fire service, including:

• Member tracking without GPS

• Fire ground mapping using thermal resistant drone

• Heat build-up tracking and warning of eminent flashover

• Imaging processing techniques for visibility through smoke and low light conditions.

• Funded decontamination of fire houses, apparatus and gear exposed to COVID 19 Contamination across the Commonwealth.

• Funded Boston Fire Department $25,000 for member heart scans. LCF helped fund reimbursement program to encourage participation and reduce out of pocket expenses.

• Funded Boston Fire Department purchase and installation of exercise equipment at the BFD training facility on Moon Island.

• Provided funding for independent confirmation of the Notre Dame PFAS Study. PFAS (a known carcinogen) was found in firefighters turnout gear.

• Funded the ongoing meta-analysis of all fire service-related research being conducted by Dr. Sara Janke at the Center for Fire, Rescue, and EMS Health Research.

• Funded Westborough Fire Department Bunk Gear Cabinet Dryer.

• Working with a Fire Hose Manufacturer to bring more thermally resistant fire hose to market.

• Funding the study at MGH to investigate PTSD in the fire service.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! I hope you can help raise money for this great organization by making a donation. Nothing it too small and every little bit helps!!

Chris Collins