Memorial Foundation Report
We are excited to announce that we have another Fire Truck committed to your future museum. Affton Fire Protection reached an MOU (Memo of Understanding) with the Foundation regarding their open cab Central.
Drywall work has started in the North half of the museum. This first of two phases involving drywall work in this area. You will see a big difference in finished surface area if you are able to attend the October 3rd and 4th services.
Our keynote speaker for the Sunday Service will be the Fire Chief of the FDNY. This came about by the connection of our Statue with 9-11 and the 25th anniversary of that date. At the time of this article, there are still some moving parts with this arrangement.
Due to the continued frequency of bad actors for scams in using individual emails from non-profit websites, we have changed completely over to a “CONTACT US” page on our website. I will continue to leave my phone number posted in the board profile so any urgent needs can still be accommodated. While text messages may still be at risk depending on a response, this change better protects individual email accounts. It is a sad development in taking these measures due to how sophisticated criminal elements have become. Our email will continue to be listed in the FFAM Magazine Foundation Report.
We have a new fundraising initiative involving an etched glass decanter and glasses. Please be sure to check out that advertisement in this edition of the magazine.
We are honored to again be selected as a recipient of the Firestorm Charities annual funding raising event for 2026, involving their 911 Tribute to Hero’s ride. The date this year is Saturday, September 5th, starting at Outlaw Harley Davidson in Blue Springs and travel to the Branded Steakhouse parking lot in Richmond. Several events are planned at that site for the remainder of the day.
The Funeral Team report at our April 11th meeting created several concerns regarding what future services could involve. Brian Zinanni gave a detailed overview of the new cancer presumption and how that could impact our future services. Brian is currently working on 22 requests and anticipating many more to come. The Foundation discussed how that could change our memorial services with large numbers of previous occupational disease deaths now qualifying for LODD Honors. This raised many questions on how to manage these initial large numbers during the catch-up timeline from January 1, 2020, to date. Current estimates are likely to show no significant impact until the 2028 services and following, but we will be preparing following the 2026 services. The key point is time management for honors and service recognition. What we are currently doing will likely be different in the future.
Please pay very close attention to the following 3 dates. You may not get another reminder of their cut-off prior to the next magazine edition. All engraving orders must be received by July 1 in order to be completed prior to the October 3rd and 4th services. Flag orders must be received by September 12th. Both Dates are FIRM! A 2026 Memorial Tee Shirt listing the “LODD” and “Service Recognition” names will be available for order by June 1st, with a firm cutoff date of August 16th. If you cannot pick up your shirt on October 3rd or 4th, we will offer shipping for an added cost. If demand exceeds supply, we will offer a 2nd printing following the October services. Shirt orders must be purchased through our website.
We need additional assistance with the Candlelight and Sunday morning services. It takes several additional people than the Foundation to make these services successful. If you have an interest in doing do for either service or both, please contact me or one of the other Foundation Directors or me.
I will close our update with a very special THANK YOU to Don Wilmesher and his long-standing tenure on the Foundation Board. Don is taking a step back but not away from the work of the Foundation, with plans to continue to assist where he can in the future. Interestingly, Don has completed 50-years of service since first becoming an FFAM District Director and later moving onto the Foundation Board. Very well done, Don and most appreciated.
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 for checking messages, so please give it a few days to respond. If it is urgent or you prefer to save time, you may call my mobile at 314 709 0760.
Thank you for your time and continued support of your memorial and future museum.
FFAM
