I am writing on behalf of the Braceville Fire Protection District (BFPD) to set up an account to help us raise funds for a severe funding shortfall we are currently experiencing. We are a Not-for-Profit organization located in Grundy County, Illinois approximately 60 miles south of Chicago. We serve a small town/rural community with 800 residents in the Village of Braceville and a total of 1,800 residents in the Fire Protection District. We operate on a shoestring budget composed primarily of property taxes (70%), revenue collected from a billing service (20%) and funds from other sources (10%) such as grants, for responding to fire calls and transporting patients to local hospitals, the closest hospital being some 25 miles from our station.

We are struggling financially to keep the department operational with ever increasing costs. This is a big problem for many small-town fire departments in Illinois and across the country. We serve an aging population and the demand for daily transports to and from local hospitals puts a strain on our limited budget and trying to maintain a qualified staff to execute these transport operations. We have a small payroll to compensate the firefighters/paramedics but the same personnel volunteer the majority of their time and give up free time with their families just to keep the organization operational as well as the many training hours completed to maintain our legal status. Our equipment is aging as well but we do not have the resources to purchase new equipment. Currently, our fire truck is fifteen years old and our brush truck is 30 years old. We purchased a new ambulance three years ago with a five-year loan from a local bank. Unfortunately, we may not be able to make this year’s payment of $30,000 dollars ($75,000 to pay off loan) and risk losing the one piece of equipment we desperately need to serve the growing elderly population in our district. Most of the elderly people have lived in the District most of or all of their lives and were around when the Department was created 60 years ago and was 100% volunteer. It is frustrating for Illinois small-town departments to watch the State of Illinois politicians create new money streams (legalized marijuana, expanding gambling, etc.) and never be included in the revenue (taxes) generated from these new revenue sources. I have written several letters to local politicians asking for an explanation as to why we are never included in the distribution of these new sources of revenue and have never received a response. The department personnel do an excellent job submitting for grants each year and we do receive some funding from the different sources but the majority of the grant money is awarded to Chicago and the surrounding metropolitan areas.

We would not be asking for financial assistance unless it was absolutely necessary, but the need right now is urgent and without some additional funding, outside of those sources mentioned above, we could possibly have to shut our operations down temporarily or permanently. A gift/donation from you would allow the department to pay off debts we are currently behind on and finally get ahead going into the new fiscal year.