Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation

MISSION STATEMENT:
The mission of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation is to champion community risk reduction initiatives; promote fire safety and prevention; and deliver meaningful support to burn survivors, fire fighters and communities.

VISION STATEMENT:
The vision of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation is for all those we serve to be healthy, safe and supported in their lives and in their communities.

The PFFWCF’s Programming includes:

Burn Survivor Support Program – supports burn survivors of all ages and in all stages of recovery.
o Summer Camp for Burn Injured Youth – a free summer camp for kids ages 7 to 17 with life altering burn injuries.
o Winter Leadership Retreat for Young Adult Burn Survivors – a weekend retreat for burn survivors ages 18 to 25 that builds life skills and promotes emotional healing.
o Support and Coordination with Wisconsin Burn Centers; Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Regional Burn Center, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin Burn Center.
o Burn Survivor Academic Scholarship
o Burn Survivor Grant to attend outside programming.
o Burn Awareness and Prevention Campaigns

- Fire Prevention Program – promotes fire safety through education and proactive initiatives to reduce risk.
o Fire Safety Newspapers in Education – a Fire Safety Newspaper distributed in 11 Gannett Sunday Newspapers throughout Wisconsin on the Sunday to commence Fire Prevention Week and made available for all 4th – 8th grade students in more than 2,200 schools.
o Wisconsin Smoke Alarm Fire Education (WisSAFE) Coalition – provides in home education while checking and installing smoke alarms.
o Wisconsin Fire Sprinkler Coalition – works to identify and overcome the barriers to the acceptance of fire sprinklers.

- Fire Fighter Support Program – supports fire fighters so they can better serve their communities.
o Disaster Assistance – provides immediate assistance to fire fighters and/or their families at their darkest time and greatest of need.
o Health and Safety – increasing health, wellness, and mental health, while working to decrease the incidence of occupational cancer in the fire service.
o Support of the PFFW State Honor Guard
o Support of the Wisconsin State Fire Fighters Memorial

- Community Support Program – reduces risk and enhances the work fire fighters do in their communities both on and off duty.
o Grant Program – makes quarterly grants as determined by the PFFWCF Board of Directors.

Goal 1: The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation will assess, ensure, and increase inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) involving our programming and services throughout Wisconsin by collecting, analyzing, and utilizing the information and data to guide, measure, and make an impact related to our mission.

Goal 2: The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation will increase communication to and engagement with all stakeholders to establish and maintain well-informed Wisconsin communities and a thriving organization.

Goal 3: The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation will unify our organization so all stakeholders (Board of Directors, Staff, Volunteers, and Supporters), regardless of level, understand how their work contributes to our mission and how our mission impacts people, organizations, and communities.

Goal 4: The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation with strengthen our organizational capacity through; a systematic needs assessment of available time, money, and resources; streamlining processes to create efficiencies; and implementing capacity building solutions where and whenever possible. All while continuing to improve and increase our program offerings and services that have an impact on our mission.

Goal 5: The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation will Improve organizational resilience and sustainability through planning, conducting a needs assessment, and concerted efforts to continue to make an indefinite impact on our mission.

The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation has experienced staff and partnerships that have implemented, managed, and completed similar smoke alarm check/installation, fire education and home safety inspection programs as part of a comprehensive home fire safety campaigns throughout our state.

Recently, we have shared a lot of success with our partners with the various smoke alarm installation, fire prevention and education programs we have developed, implemented, and completed.

Our experience stems from a 3-prong approach to smoke alarm check/installation, education and home safety inspection programs has been most successful for us. Smoke alarm and fire safety checks are done by appointment all year long. We also canvas target audiences door-to-door offering to perform smoke alarm checks/installations. Lastly, we canvas the immediate neighborhood where a house fire has taken place and offer to perform smoke alarm checks/installations while the devastating effects of fire is right in front of them and the importance of fire prevention is on their minds.

What we are hoping to accomplish with the award of this grant is to enhance our smoke alarm check/installation, fire education and home safety inspection programs throughout the State of Wisconsin. By utilizing smoke alarms powered by non-removable, non-replaceable batteries that power the alarm for a minimum of 10-years and are enclosed within a tamper resistant housing. Thus, providing a long-term solution versus replacing missing and/or dead batteries.

In conjunction, we have a very proactive board and committees that support fire prevention and safety through our other programs (burn survivor, fire safety publications (550,000+ copies printed annually and distributed to 2,100+ schools), and support for fire sprinklers and safety trailers to name a few).

As you can see we have quite a bit of experience and expertise not only in programs that are similar to what we are proposing, but to fire prevention and safety in general.

Burn Survivor Support Program
    •    Welcomed 53 burn survivors to our 28th annual Summer Camp for Burn Injured Youth or “Burn Camp.”
    •    Launched our Continuous Camper Communication Commitment to increase engagement with burn survivors.
    •    Increased our efforts to communicate with burn care providers and facilities to create awareness for our aftercare services in a concerted effort to connect with the 100+ hospitalized pediatric burn patients in Wisconsin each year.
    •    Convened our Winter Leadership Retreat for Young Adult Burn Survivors in the Wisconsin Dells.
    •    Supported the UW Burn Center and moved closer to fulfilling our $100,000 commitment to name the family lounge after our organization with proceeds from our Annual Burn Ball in Madison (Save-the-Date 2/4/23).
    •    Expanded our Burn Survivor Scholarship initiatives.
    •    Sponsored Burn Campers, staff, and families to attend the Neenah-Menasha Backdraft Bike Tour.

Fire Safety & Prevention Program
    •    Received record demand for our 25th annual Fire Safety Newspapers in Education program. We printed 500,000+ copies, expanded statewide distribution from 11 to 25 newspapers, and received 130k preorders that we delivered to schools, fire departments, and community organizations (www.pffwcf.org/FireSafety).
    •    Secured and administered an $89k FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety grant for installing smoke alarms.
    •    Hosted our 32nd Annual Fire Safety Recognition Luncheon with record attendance in Madison for the first time.
    •    Promoted fire safety through our Wisconsin Smoke Alarm Fire Education Coalition and WI Fire Sprinkler Coalition.
    •    Received national recognition from the National Fire Protection Association in the form of their annual Bringing Safety Home Award and two International Association of Fire Fighters Media Awards for our outreach materials.

Fire Fighter Support Program
    •    Launched our 3rd annual Fire & EMS Mental Health Survey in partnership with Rogers Research Center.
    •    Developed and started implementation on our Wisconsin Public Safety Mental Health Initiative that aims to improve the mental health of all responders through awareness, peer support, coordinated care, and other support services.
    •    Launched an initiative to honor and provide services to our fire fighters military veterans.
    •    Utilized our Disaster Assistance Toolkit to provide more than $200,000 in disaster assistance to fire fighters and their families during times of need.
    •    Our Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Honor Guard rendered more tribute and honor to our fallen brothers and sisters; assisted departments throughout Wisconsin in their time of need; and properly displayed and showcased respect towards the colors we fly and the proud profession we serve in than ever before (www.pffwhg.org).
    •    Continued to provide support for and coordination with the Wisconsin Fire and EMS Memorial