Light the Night and Bells Across America
I will start with a quick look back at our previous article that started with, “Attention Everyone! The Foundation Board needs your assistance.” We did not get much feedback regarding the 2020, 2021 and 2022 names of record. I hope, this means we have most things up to date, but if you were not able to take a detailed look at the last article (listing of names), please do so and get back to us should you discover a missing name or have any questions.
The Foundation Board has been very busy in regular and special called meetings for the past 8-months.
We have met via ZOOM call or on-site every month since October of last year plus twice in April. We will likely continue these monthly meetings up to the October 7th and 8th services for continued planning and preparation for the presentation of honors and the museum project. One addition to the candlelight service this year will be a program book with a picture and bio of each name being honored in addition to the PowerPoint presentation that evening. We are planning to live stream the Sunday service on October 8th at 10:30 am as we did last year, but currently reviewing the possibility of doing so Saturday night for the candlelight service at 7:00 pm. I will have confirmation if this will be done by our next article.
The Foundation has finalized a decision on names who passed prior to and after January 1, 2023. All of those who passed in 2023 and the first 6-months of 2024 will be honored in the 2024 service. This hopefully one-time shifting of dates was done to respectfully honor the large number of 130 names we have for 2022 and previous ones that we were not aware of. Adding 6 months from 2023 would have made the total number too large to respectfully manage.
The Foundation will be accepting names for engraving on the Service Walls and Brick orders for anyone including 2023 up to June 30th so do not delay on that. The website address for applications with instructions is ffam.org/memorial/. Once there, look to the lower right for Memorial Forms (Distinguished Wall Application) and Donation Forms (Brick Sponsor).
For anyone who happens to pass through Kingdom City at night during the week of May 1-7th, you found things in different lighting to honor Light the Night. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation sponsors the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend which is the official national tribute to those firefighters who died in the line of duty during the previous year. In 2017, the NFFF Foundation created Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters to recognize the 25th anniversary of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend. Since then, Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters has expanded to include fire departments, fire-related organizations and families lighting their homes by lighting in red.
For the first time, the Foundation officially participated in Bells Across America to match up with their NFFF memorial service on May 7th. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has asked communities, fire service, and religious organizations to help honor fallen firefighters by participating in Bells Across America at the same time as the bells are tolled in their May 7th Service. Assistance with this honor was your Funeral Response Team members.
I will wrap up with some very exciting news regarding the next steps with the Museum project and the completion of the interior of this space. We needed $215,000 to complete the next step of this phased construction which involved the installation of all utilities, finished restrooms and some service areas to make the building functional and kick off a focused fundraising effort.
We also needed someone to take that next big step with a large support to say we believe in this and need to get it done. The Foundation had raised $115,000 by the first of this year toward this Goal. Thanks to FFAM providing $100,000, this next step toward the goal of finishing the Museum was started in April and should be wrapped up in late June or July.
Thank you for your time and the continued support of your memorial and future museum.
FFAM
