I will get into some current information of importance and then take a reflective look back at 2025. For the first time since the memorial was dedicated in 2002, we are revising the price for all engraving. When you think about it, offering the same service at the same price for 23 years was a significant accomplishment, but everything costs so much more since then. July 1, 2026, is the cut-off for all engraving prior to the October services. If you will be attending Winter Fire School on February 6th, please come by our table.
2025 is in the books, and we look forward to the work ahead in 2026. A few bullet points of importance, looking back at 2025, deserve honorable mention or repeating.
We previously allowed up to 58 total characters on the service walls for name and department engraving. That was reduced to 38 because we ran into some serious overlap of line spacing into our future ability of completing 3 vertical columns per panel.
We discontinued the annual chair rental expense by purchasing 500 high quality folding chairs. Fun fact, we used all of the 500 and arrived at standing room only for the 2025 Sunday Service.
We changed to one printed program covering both services for the first time in 2025. Those attending the Candlelight service on Saturday evening were asked to bring their program back for the Sunday morning service. This seemed to work well and will be continued for 2026 services.
Memorial and future Museum By-Laws were updated to reflect our evolution of revised operations. This was their first major revision since both were originally adopted.
We were blessed this past year with some large individual donations that exceeded $75,000 and fundraisers that exceeded $10,000, both going toward the future Museum. Special shout-out for the work Larry Eggen and friends accomplished with fundraising.
Doc Kritzer was re-appointed to the Foundation after a brief respite and continued all engraving responsibilities. That was a welcome return due to the complexities of managing all engraving work. Tracy Gray accepted the responsibility of building and grounds and has done an outstanding job with several projects, especially phase II framing. Bill Albus continued with outside flag management, and Gail Hagans continued the coordination of our flag sponsor program. Chief Hoover continued as Vice Chair, and Stephen McLane completed the Foundation Secretarial duties.
The Treasurer for the Foundation continues as an outside contracted position. We were pleased to introduce our new Treasurer, Courtney Shiverdecker, in May. Her assistance with the routine and many other things not previously provided was a breath of fresh air for the Foundation and our expanding level of operations.
Your memorial was 23-years old in May, and surface mounted things that are in the weather 100% of the time began to show their age. A series of repairs started in March and continued throughout the year.
Another construction phase was completed, which focused on most of the general framing in the north half of the building. Two large truckloads of lumber arrived this summer and now in place thanks in no small part to all volunteer assistance. It also added additional electrical and took a serious look at the HVAC phase that is coming up.
The 2025 Candlelight and Sunday Services honored 104 Firefighters, 10 of whom were in the line of duty. Live streaming of the Sunday Service using Facebook and YouTube platforms was further improved plus several family and visitor services were added in the delivery of honors.
Engraving orders for the 2025 services totaled 125 vs. 100 in 2024. Memorial shirts, including the 2nd printing, exceeded 425 vs. 275 in 2024.
Our Facebook page continues with the largest viewing numbers to date. Between October 1st and November 1st, we documented 8,438 views and now have over 1,200 followers.
Our location at the intersection of Interstate 70 and State Highway 54 looks very different, as many are along the I-70 widening project. The full transformation of this new interchange will not be completed until 2027, so we will likely have one more service adjacent to this construction zone. We do not know if the changes will reduce or bring higher levels of noise, but we will adapt and overcome if necessary, as we always do.
We were honored to be selected as the recipient of the Firestorm Charities annual funding event for 2025, coupled with their 911 Tribute to Heroes ride. They have already approached us concerning 2026.
The Statue which the Memorial Foundation gifted to New York City following September 11th was moved again. What looks to be its final home is the FDNY Training Center. Those details were outlined in the Nov-Dec magazine and are worth a closer look if you missed it.
If you need to contact us, we have several options. For general information, engraving and shopping, our website is mofirememorial-museum.org/ Our mailing address is 5550 Dunn Drive, Kingdom City, MO 65262. For email, please use info@mofirememorial-museum.org. This is a shared platform in checking on messages, so please give it a few days to respond. If it is urgent or you prefer to save time, please call 314 709 0760.
Thank you for your time and continued support of your memorial and future museum.
FFAM
