A word to the Whiners !

[Firegrafix]

Here we are shortly after Round 8 listing to people complain about not getting funds.
Here's a little about my experience.

2001 - didn't apply
2002 - put together a half-***ed application (very little research) and got denied.

This year I decided it was time to get our act together. From the beginning of February until mid-April, I lived FIRE Act. Every minute of spare time I had was spent on the program. Researching, meeting with equipment vendors, attending a FEMA grant seminar, talking with companies that were funded in previous years.

That was my schedule, there were 2 other members also putting time in.

It payed off for over $100,000.

I listened to other companies in the past telling me to address the issues in the program guidance. Before I didn't believe them. Now I do.

You don't need a grant writer, one of the largest research tools is right at your fingertips......The internet.

So, how much effort did you put in to your application?

Not getting funded may be no one's fault but your own!!!

[dragonfyre]

Bravo, Kudos & Congratulations

You are a prime example of what I've been saying for the last 3 years.

It doesn't matter how poor or rich you are, it's all in the presentation.

Also, you learned from your mistakes and decided not to give in to the nay-sayers. You took the time to go to the seminars and talk to other successful companies which is great.

Hopefully all those out there who take the time to whine but not the time to learn will stop applying every year. That will leave more $$ out there for those of us who have learned to play by FEMA's rules.

We are 2 for 2 and haven't received our "Dear John" letter yet this year. We didn't get awarded until Round 12 (Dec 13th) last year so we think we are still in the running. If we don't get it this year we'll try again next year, and the next and the next.

It seems like most of the companies from my area are getting the money for the radio switch to 800 so maybe FEMA is agreeing that it is a problem that the county is switching over and making the companies fund their own way of talking back to the dispatchers.

[FFDE31]

I hope you don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. There are many people that put the same, or more, amount of time in and are not sucessful as of yet. You don't walk on water do ya!!!

[Adze39]

Oh that's right!!! People can't be happy that they won a grant because whiners like yourself haven't received any notification yet.

[NickSBFD6]

Originally posted by FFDE31
I hope you don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. There are many people that put the same, or more, amount of time in and are not sucessful as of yet. You don't walk on water do ya!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! !!!!!!!!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! !!!!!!!!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! !!!!!!!!


Give me a break... I makes you wonder just how young we start pounding this entitlement mentality into people these days...

-Nick

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

I think the entitlement mentality is being injected at birth nowdays.


I did the same thing as Firegrafix the first year as they did the 2nd, put in a half-assed application. Rejected! That was such an ego shot that I got ****ed and learned the process inside and out, what works and what doesn't. After spending 100s of hours last year preparing for the application, I got to drive the spoils this past weekend: a heavy rescue paid for with $312K of FEMA's money. Was what I did an anamoly? I don't think so. I haven't received anything this year so far, but I'm happy to say that many others have. CusterFireman said they put in the same application the past two years and never got reviewed. I gave them my free advice rundown on their narrative, and he just got the 1199A last week. In his words, the pumper they buy will be the first NFPA compliant pumper in the county. Several others have said they have used my website to LEARN from, and I'm glad to see they are all posting the receipt of their pre-notifications too. To toot my own horn, once they are all announced, my site will have helped raise over $600K this year, not including my application. And to answer the question before you ask it, I don't care if our grant gets canned because I helped all of these people score higher than me. Some people really need the money that badly. I've got solid PPE, good SCBA, and decent pumpers (and now a nice rescue). Anything else is gravy in my book.

Steve and I have been among a few others that have been harping on the "follow the rules" theme the entire life of this program. And lo and behold, those that have followed the rules have been getting the grants. Those that have changed their ways to follow the rules in subsequent apps have won, just like Firegrafix. It's not rocket science and it's not welfare. So either get with the program or stop wasting your time in putting in the app, FEMA's for having to review and reject it, and ours for having to listen to you after it's all over. Look how many got canned before review: 6000 applications! 6000 people couldn't even read enough of the rules to figure out what was eligible and what wasn't. In the words of Bill Engvall: Here's your sign.

In my words, thanks. Because there are so many that think this is welfare, that made the competition so much thinner for some others that did play by the rules and WORKED to get the funding. Custer, ORFD, and some others. Congrats to those that played by the rules and won. Sometimes nice folks do finish first.

Stay safe, and to those that played by the rules: "Don't let the bastards get you down."

Brian

[smfd227]

That's how it was with us. First year, nothing. Last year, a half-assed attempt at getting a truck we didn't need (we'd just gotten a new one). This year, I went to the workshop, and spent hours and days reworking my narrative.

Haven't been shot down yet, hopefully we won't. I need solid PPE and some radios. Where is your site, I could use some advice, most successful stations around me won't help, they see me as competing for their money. Kinda funny, considering I'm their mutual aid.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Bill

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

www.firegraphics.org/grants.htm is mine.

www.dragonflynet.com is another one by Rodney Slaughter that's got grants from all different programs as well.

[Bones42]

And lo and behold, those that have followed the rules have been getting the grants.

We followed the rules and kept to them. First 2 years made it to peer review before being turned down. This is our third year and we are still waiting. Just because you follow the rules does not mean you will be awarded.

I am not complaining, as I have said in many posts about the grants, it's free money - you get some, great. You don't, oh well, thanks for trying. It never hurts trying for free money!

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

What I meant to say (before being interrupted by people expecting me to do work at the office. the nerve ) was, I haven't seen any examples of people not following the rules and being awarded. I commend the reviewers and the FEMA staff for sticking to the guidelines and not bowing to any political pressure.

Unlike the DHS First Responder money. Supposedly there was $95 million for Texas departments, and nearly all that was available for the Houston area went to HFD Hazmat, and no one else. Further proof that if the FireACT gets changed to be administered through the states, only big cities will get the money, and not those that live on the edge of them. Definitely no rural areas. Even though if the big one drops, the big cities are going to be the first ones hit and it will be the suburban and rural departments that will respond in to assist. But that's neither here nor there.

[ACSO911]

I will have to admit I was one of the whiners in the past 2 years. But as my department was preparing to write this years grant, we looked long and hard at the needs assessment issue. The previous 2 years we applied for a new pumper, this year we decided to apply for turn out gear and other equipment and I received the link for the 1199A today!

I spent a little more time this year preparing my narrative using suggestions from grants posted on Brian's website and the work paid off.

It is a great relief finally getting a grant, last year I helped a neighboring department write their's and they were awarded and I was not. You can imagine the ribbing I took for that one!

Keep the faith brothers!

[Adze39]

I didn't write the narrative last year, and we were denied. Two years ago, the person who was supposed to do the grant didn't do it.

This year, I wrote the narrative. I decided to drop the 4 Scott Packs out of the request and added 30 voice amplifiers. The other two items are a new compressor and a smoke machine. I sat down to write the narrative, the first thing I did was look at the rules (even left them up in a seperate window) to make sure I hit all the points. I typed about 1.75 pages in Word. I then emailed the word document to my wife at work along with the rules to have her read it and make sure I hit the points. After she and her coworkers confirmed I followed the rules and demonstrated my need, I submitted my grant. We received our 1199a and 6 questions, now I am just waiting official notification.

Now to **** off the whiners...

I didn't use a grant writer. I submitted my first draft which I typed up in well under an hour on the final day of the application process. The teachers at my wife's work even said it was very well written. But I'm just good like that.

To sum up...

If you made sure you followed the rules, and touch on all the different points they want you to hit, you should do well.

[NickSBFD6]

It seems you guys are hitting on the major difference between sucess and failure in this program. The ones who got awarded, reaserched sucsessful grants and LEARNED from trial and error, both from themselves and others... The others who get turned down every year and cry foul about the system, will more than likely get turned down again.


By the way Brian, AWESOME looking rig you guys got!

-Nick

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Thanks Nick. We had trouble doing the final inspection because so many people that were up for delivery and design visits kept crawling all over it.

Another visitor to the that was quite impressed with the truck and how it was paid for, was former FEMA Director Joe Albaugh, who we met while doing the inspection. I thanked him profusely since, as you may or may not know, he was the driving force behind the FireACT being born and it's $$ growth. I asked if he could make sure it doesn't change for to move under ODP, and he said he'd pull what strings he could. Not sure if he really can or not, but it was worth a shot.

Anyway, I tried to attach the picture here too, but they won't let me since it's already in the other forum: http://cms.firehouse.com/forums2/sho...threadid=51816

By the way Whiners, Nick's department has the highest $$ amount vehicle grant so far in the 3 years at $432K. We're a measly 9th place.

Although it would appear that we scared the Whiners off already. Guess we'll just have to wait until the next post from a whiner.

[Adze39]

Nice rig!

What manufacturer was that? Who was the other manufacturer who sent you a price? Finally, how much was your grant for?