Happy New Year everyone and hope all is going well with fully achieving each New Year’s Resolution.
A blank slate with new opportunities make every one count. I want to lead off with the recent summary from the Chief Executive Officer of NVFC, Sarah Lee, “As you know, the foundation of NVFC membership is our state association members. These state associations provide up to 2 individuals who serve in leadership positions on our board of directors, they serve as liaisons with the first responders within their state, and they are a conduit of information between the state and national fire service. NVFC is the organization it is today because of our state association members, and we are grateful for all of you who represent these associations.”
NVFC recently surpassed 28,000 individual members and continues to grow. There are several supporting programs that come with individual membership of $21.00 per year. nvfc.org/join-nvfc/
- $10,000 accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy
- NVFC First Responder Helpline
- Free training through the NVFC Virtual Classroom (National Recognition)
- Personalized membership card
- Member access to the NVFC website and resources
- Access to Volunteer Voices online forum
- Educational discounts to online universities and fire service training
- Eligibility to apply for special members-only opportunities such as giveaways and educational scholarships
- Discounts on products and services from NVFC partners snd more!
- Fire Corps
- Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program
- National Junior Firefighter Program
- Make Me A Firefighter volunteer recruitment program
- Share the Load
- Wildland Fire Assessment Program
By joining NVFC as an individual member, you will also build toward a State of Missouri total which upon reaching 500 would waive the $500.00 annual State Association membership fee to NVFC. Their annual report www.nvfc.org/about/ provides a much greater picture of NVFC and its benefits.
New Resource! In November NVFC launched an operational guide: Training Volunteer Firefighters to be Combat Ready in partnership with the IAFC-VCOS and IFSTA which is available to everyone. Please download and share!
A new Recruit Track has just launched in NVFC’s Virtual Classroom. This carefully curated selection of courses covers critical introductory topics for new emergency responders. Departments are encouraged to use the track as part of their mandatory onboarding process to ensure that these essential topics are covered early and consistently in the recruits’ experience.
I will close out this article with a reprint from the “Secret List” by Billy G, 11/18/22. Chief Goldfeder was invited to the US Fire Administrator’s 2022 Summit on Fire Prevention and Control and stated the following. “While there are many common challenges to all aspects of the fire service, one comment provided me with a real aha moment. During introductions of the leadership panel, NVFC Vice-Chair Kevin Quinn commented about some differences in the fire service, specifically the very real volunteer challenges these days. To this, IAFF General President Ed “Edzo” Kelly responded, I don’t think we have that many differences, and we certainly have a whole lot of common challenges that we will work on together. Kevin then smiled and affirmed Edzo’s comment. BAM. The fact that the leader of the largest firefighters’ labor union and leader of the nation’s volunteer firefighters publicly agreed that solving our many common problems will require a team collaborative effort, is a phenomenal place to start. We have some very serious common ground issues impacting all Firefighters in 2022 and ahead”. Adding my own thoughts on this, 2023 may have new partnership opportunities for some very important challenges. Hopefully much more to follow on this in the future.
Thank you for your time and for allowing Rob and me to serve on your behalf with the NVFC.
FFAM
