IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Update:

Frank Joseph Averella passed away peacefully on 11/13/23 surrounded by family and friends.

Any donations from now on will be used lesson the burden of the family for his services and the medical bills that have accumulated.

Thank you to everyone who has donated it means so much to the family.

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It truly does take a village. The purpose of this event is to support the future and to ease financially, the transitioning period of initial and long-term grief for Frank Averella's 3 children, (Jackson 4, Ella 7, and Taylor 17) as he is in the End Stage of battling his terminal illness of Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 47.

Who Is Frank? Frank is a Husband, Father, Friend, and Emergency First Responder. Frank has been a First Responder for almost his entire life. It all started when he was only 13 years of age while still in middle school and became a member of the Civil Air Patrol an Air Force Auxiliary whose main mission was to assist other agencies with the searching for downed and missing aircraft and lost persons. He did this with a few of his childhood friends and the lessons they learned (leadership, dedication, discipline, First Aid, Search and Rescue, and many other qualities), would carry with them through the rest of their lives and careers. He did this from the ages of 13 to 16. He started Volunteer Firefighting at the age of 16 and realized right away that helping to save life was his calling in this world. (True Story...When Frank initially joined the Volunteer Firehouse he went every single day to that Firehouse without missing a day for 5 Months and 29 days). He received his Interior Firefighter 1 Certification in the summer of 1992 in Baltimore, County Maryland, and two years later was also certified as an Emergency Medical Technician. Early on Frank became very interested in the Technical Rescue side of the Fire Department and was trained in specific areas such as Trench Collapse, Rope Rescue, Hazardous Materials Operations, Ice Water Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, Open-Water Rescue, Heavy Rescue including Planes (Civilian and Commercial), Trains (Passenger and Freight), School Busses, and other types of emergencies that required a higher technical skill level. By the time Frank was almost 19 years old he was a Firefighter 1, EMT, Rescue Specialist, Hazardous Materials Operator, and Trench Level 3 Technician.

During the Fall of 1994, a nationwide request went out to all Fire Stations to get their personnel trained in the area of Wildland Fire (Forest Fire Fighting).Again Frank answered that call and was aggressively trained and left his home state of Maryland to travel first to Montana for 2 weeks and then again right after for another two weeks in Idaho. Frank received the State of Maryland's Salute to Excellence Award from the Governor of Maryland William Donald Schaefer for the time spent out west during the Wildland Fires of the Summer of 1994.

While out west fighting forest fires in the Summer of "94" as a Type 2 Fire Fighter Frank realized that Wildland Firefighting was an extremely dangerous and physically demanding but rewarding job and applied to all the Type 1 Elite (Hotshot) Crews in the country during the Winter of 1994. The Following Spring in 1995 Frank was approached by multiple Agencies across the country and chose to become a member of the Sacramento Interagency Hotshot Crew based in Region 3 in South Eastern New Mexico. Frank traveled the entire country (where needed) and even out of the country to Canada with his crew to fight forest fires and assist any community in need.

After a Few Fire Seasons, Frank returned to his hometown due to immediate family reasons but continued to serve his Local Fire and Rescue Station. After spending almost 8 years at home where he started his Volunteer career Frank decided that it was time to do some traveling and ended up in Central Florida where he became a member of the Marion County Search and Rescue Team. While working with the All-Volunteer Search And Rescue Team of highly dedicated members he once again had the opportunity to impact many lives of those in need from the numerous natural disasters that befall the State of Florida. Frank enjoyed the State of Florida and remained there for over 17 years where he eventually met his wife Kathy.

After many years in Florida as a resident surviving multiple Hurricanes and dealing with the effects of those disasters, Frank and his wife decided to find a new place to call home with a more favorable climate and a place to raise a family. They ended up finding the perfect spot on the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Eastern Tennessee. Again it didn't take long for Frank to fulfill his natural calling to help save lives and became a Member of the Sparta-White County Volunteer Rescue Squad and the BonDeCroft Volunteer Fire Department. Frank being the person that he was, sought out as much knowledge and training as possible and became certified in multiple highly disciplined fields of Technical Rescue in his New Mountain Home. Because of the location where Frank and his new little family now lived, he would have to be prepared to respond to emergencies in Deep River Gourges, Dangerous Mountain Terrain, and Remote Wilderness Areas not easily accessible by road. These missions would almost always require the use of Elite Specially Trained Teams along with the help of many helicopter aircraft. Frank quickly got to work and trained hard and again would either be Recertified or Newly Certified in Specialty Areas of Rescue including Advanced Swiftwater Technician, Rope Operations Operator, Grain Bin Rescue Technician, Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician, and Advanced Vehicle Extrication. Again for the Second time in his life, Frank would go through Firefighter Rookie School to become a Tennessee Fire Fighter 1. Additionally, Frank worked Part-Time for his County's Ambulance Service.

At the end of the day, there are a few basics that can be said about Frank. He loved God, He loved his Family and he lived to Save Lives. Whenever the call for help was asked...Frank responded. From Floods in different regions To Forest Fires across the country, to Hurricanes in Florida, to tornadoes in Central Tennessee, to searching for missing persons, to extinguishing Residential and Commercial Building Fires to rescuing people trapped in vehicle accidents, to extrication of all sorts of animals from various situations, to performing Life Saving Medical procedures on people and many more situations not mentioned here... when people and animals were in need Frank was there to help. It's just who Frank was. Frank realized that being there to help those in need when they needed help the most was what was important in this life.

Even after Frank was diagnosed with the deadly Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis, Frank still never gave up and remained active in responding to Emergency Calls up until the point that his body just could not perform at the level that was required to safely do his job. Having to stop responding to emergencies due to an illness was one of the toughest things for Frank to deal with.

Even though there was a lot of information given here, we felt it important to show the history throughout the years of dedication that Frank gave to his communities....! Doing the greater good for mankind.

That being said Frank has a beautiful wife (Kathy) and 3 beautiful children (Jackson), (Ella), and (Taylor). Frank's final request was that others might help his children as they navigate grief and hardships from losing their father and primary provider. The funds raised will be going into a Family Trust where the money will be safe and protected. Any amount would be greatly appreciated nomatter how big or small. Let's be the Averella family's village, and give a little to someone who gave so much.

Please consider also, liking, commenting, and sharing this GoFundMe so we can reach as many people as possible.

Thank you