I am already tired of the idiots; let's hear from the good guys!

[qfdeng5]

The City of Quincy MA raised about $13,000 at a Memorial Service held for the public. The next week, the Fire Department held a "Fill the boot" drive. Twenty firefighters raised $21,000 in two hours. The outpouring was tremendous! People were literally throwing money at us. They emptied their cars of change, including one woman who gave me a roll of quarters. Many people gave $20's,$10's-A few gave us $100's!!!

Last week, NY contacted us to assist them with attending funerals. On Friday, three buses left for NY. Two were from Boston and one was mixed, including guys from Quincy.

I think there are many ways we can all help and hope that these efforts continue.

Keep safe.

[chris a]

In Corinth NY 50 miles north of Albany.The Corinth Fire Dept. and community members raised 8000.00 in a coin drop and another 564.17 in a car wash. This is a small town and village with population of less than 5000.People from neighboring towns drove out of their way to donate.This money is being donated to the Red Cross.

[toneloc177]

trust me brothers, we all feel you. thanks for being a part of our mourning.

Firefighters.

Couldn't try to build a better tomato.

[ChiefReason]

Chaplain:
Thank you for your inspirations. I had a Methodist minister on our department some years ago. He wasn't adverse to having a beer with us and as I recalled, he smoked. But in times of trouble, he would offer us and our victims reassurances from the words of Jesus Christ. I miss him. Yesterday, we buried a retired firefighter. He was 52 years old and died after a lengthy battle with cancer. He served his country in Vietnam and brought home a Bronze Star. He served our department for 22 years and brought us nothing but his best. I will miss him too. Funny, but remembering people like that is a way to pay tribute to those who have fallen. The pastor at the funeral summed it up very nicely and I am not a church going, Bible thumping brand, but I do believe that I have God in my heart. I wear St. Florian around my neck. I believe that she has protected me. Some of you are probably thinking, why does a chief need the protection of St. Florian? Trust me, I need all the help I can get! But anyway, the pastor said yesterday at Country's funeral that just because you go to church, you may not go to Heaven. Just because you don't drink or smoke, you still may not go to Heaven and he said that just because you read the Bible and quote Scriptures, you may not go to Heaven. But if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will go to Heaven. That's what I have been trying to tell people for years. I truly believe that God has a special place-just as all of America has right now-in his heart for firefighters, because they risk their lives for their fellow beings. At the very least, they ease their suffering and for that, I believe that firefighters-not firesetters-will go to Heaven. The fact that firefighters care enough about human kind every day and mitigates tragedy after tragedy without little or no fanfare is in itself a memorial to victims of NYC and DC. The fact that FDNY are doing it and have been doing it since the incident of 9-11-01, speaks volumes of their faith and commitment.
I applaud you Chaplain 41. But a word of warning: I noticed that your rank starts with the letter "C". You may get pulled into this nasty acronym circulating through the fire service. CHAOS? I think it says something like "Chaplain Has Arrived On Scene"! It might be Captain. Yea, I think it might be Captain Has Arrived On Scene.
I know that we cannot do this job based on faith alone, so throw in a couple of good SOGs and an AMEN or two and things should be OK. Oh and vote Republican. And pray for liberals. Sorry, Chap, I had to throw that in for my buddies.
Take care and stay safe.

[mtperry]

We are a small volunteer fire dept. in Montana and we felt we needed to do something to help the families and heal our sorrows for FDNY. We teamed up with 9 other rural deptartments and put on a sphagetti dinner for the community. Not only to raise money for the families of our fallen brothers and sisters in NY but to come together and grieve the loss of so many. We raised $16,600 for the 9-11 fund and served 1150 dinners in 4 hours with 4 days planning. Small drop compared to others but it is raining and that is really cool. It was awsome to see people stand in line for an hour and a half to GIVE. That shows there is still a lot of good people around. All of our trucks got a nice decal, red and blue ribbon with "In Honor of Those Lost" over the top. In the back window of my ride I have FDNY Firefighters We Salute You. We just need people to know that we care and that we are supporting there efforts. I think it is important to do these things and I am more proud to be an American Firefighter now than ever. Lets all walk tall and make our family bond even stronger.

With Love to FDNY and all of America.

[Chaplain 41]

Chief, sorry to hear about your loss. We hear that the good die young but if we know Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, it's the beginning of life where terrorists, cancer, heart attacks, etc. are not welcome. I'm not beyond having a beer either while watching a hockey game or sitting down with the crew after the big one. It's not what goes in, but what comes out...what's in our heart. And you Sir are absolutely right when expressing the heart of a firefighter/EMS. You have to really care about others to put yourself in situations that may turn ugly in a heartbeat...like climbing stairs to aid people to safety only to have those stairs go out from under you.
Chaos could never apply to me, I'm usually on the first truck in.
I'm blessed to be in the service of others and the Brotherhood among firefighters that exists. By the way, have you seen E-Ones ad in the July 2001 Fire Engineering. Two firefighters are helping another out from a structure fire. The ad saids, "It's not something we do, it's something we are" I like that!
Be careful Chief, we need you on the fireground!

[ 10-04-2001: Message edited by: Chaplain 41 ]