Last Updated on November 6, 2023 by Luke Feldbrugge
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation mission is to honor America’s fallen fire heroes. The do this through many programs that provide support for the fallen’s families, colleagues, and organizations. They also work diligently to reduce the number of preventable firefighter deaths and injuries. As part of the Homes for Heroes Circle of Giving, the Homes for Heroes Foundation selected the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to receive a $25,000 grant to provide support for the families of fallen firefighters through their scholarship program.
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Grant Check Presentation with Jay Flynn
Jay Flynn, Foundation Director with Homes for Heroes, meets with Victor Stagnaro, CEO, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation; Sandy Patterson, Homes for Heroes Real Estate Specialist, and David Koonce, Homes for Heroes Mortgage Specialist to briefly discuss the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and how the funds received from the Homes for Heroes Foundation grant will assist their initiatives.
You can watch the full interview here or read the transcript of the interview below.
Jay: Hey, everyone. I’m Jay Flynn, the Homes for Heroes Foundation Director and I’m joined today by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation CEO, Victor Stegner. I’ve also got real estate specialist, Sandy Patterson with me, and mortgage specialist, David Koonce.
So thanks for joining us, Victor.
Victor: Thank you for being here.
Jay: So as part of the Homes Heroes Circle of Giving, Victor, we reach out to great non-profits like the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
Sandy, David and I are so pleased to present this $25,000 Homes for Heroes Foundation check to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Congratulations!
Victor: Thank you. We are extremely grateful for this awesome contribution to support the families of our fallen firefighters. Thank you.
All: Thank you. It is our honor. Absolutely.
Jay: Awesome. So David and Sandy, why is this so meaningful to you guys?
David: It’s an honor to serve and to help the individuals that put their lives in danger to keep us safe. So we’re thrilled to be here today.
Victor: Thank you, David.
Sandy: It is a true honor to be here, to even have a small part in helping, to give back to our local firefighters and EMS, who put their life on the line each and every day for us. If we can give back just a little bit to help them and their families in times of need, it means a lot.
Victor: Well, I will say it’s not a little. You’re helping a lot. This is a very significant contribution in support of our scholarship program. Thank you.
Jay: So, Victor, tell us a little bit about how the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, how it came about and its mission.
Victor: Well, years ago, we had a United States senator who went to a law enforcement memorial and said, who does this for the fire service? There’s an organization that takes care of law enforcement families and assists them, and at their memorial. But, there was no one doing that for the fire service. So, he created legislation.
In 1992, a law was passed that created the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
We’re not a government agency. We are a nonprofit. Other nonprofits have been created through Congress. The American Red Cross is a good example of that. So, we are commissioned by the United States government to honor every fallen firefighter that dies in the line of duty, to support their families and try to prevent line of duty deaths and injuries.
That’s how we came about. And that’s our mission.
Jay: All right. So obviously supporting those families of the fallen, that’s your primary focus. You have programs and different things in place to help do that. Tell us a little bit about those.
Victor: We have programs to support those families at the national memorial. We do grief counseling for the families when they attend. And, of course, the memorial is a very significant component of how we honor those firefighters. And we show those families that the nation is grateful for the sacrifices of those firefighters.
We do kids camps. We do scholarship programs, we do wellness conferences, all types of events that support the families.
We ask the families what they need. We’ve done research studies to find out what they need. Sometimes what they need isn’t what they want, but we try to really work on supporting those families and providing that level of assistance. And we’ve learned so much about peer support.
We were just at a men’s retreat recently and the men that got together who’ve lost their sons, their fathers, their brothers…to be able to unite and have those shared experiences is just extraordinarily meaningful for them to be able to support one another.
Those are the things we’re extraordinarily proud of, to be able to support those families in those different ways.
Jay: So the Homes Heroes Foundation grant to you guys for $25,000. How are you guys going to use those funds?
Victor: So that scholarship program is extraordinarily important for the families of our fallen. We support scholarships for children, spouses and partners of our fallen firefighters, and our program is very meaningful to them. I can tell you we’ve been able to support families and children who just simply would not be able to go to college if it weren’t for the scholarship program that we provide. And your funds are going to help support that program to ensure our program is sustained into the future, and to make those meaningful changes for those families and for the education of our fallen firefighters’ families.
So again, what you do…and you may think it is a small thing, but it is not a small thing. I can tell you this $25,000 donation is going to go a long, long way in supporting lots of families and lots of kids who wouldn’t be able to be in college if it weren’t for you.
Jay: We’re honored to do it, for sure. So if folks want to learn more and hear some more about the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s work?
Victor: They can visit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation website to learn all about the different programs that we have. We do a lot of programs for colleagues of fallen firefighters. We have Chief Officers, Incident Commanders, and company officers whose colleague has died in the line of duty. We support those firefighters as well. And you can learn about those going through our website.
Jay: All right. So I heard you say you’re not part of the government, instead you’re a 501c3.
Victor: Correct.
Jay: And all 501c3 nonprofits need money to function.
Victor: We do.
Jay: So if somebody wanted to help support you guys, how can they do that?
Victor: Well, go to the website. There’s a donate button there. It’s extraordinarily important. We cannot do this type of work without support like you’re providing to us, and support from the public, who’s donation means a lot. And I will tell you, my sense, and in the sense of everybody who’s associated with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, this is holy money. You expect us to do the right thing with it, and we will. So please donate support to the families of our fallen.
Jay: Well, Victor, thank you for joining us today. And thank you for being here and doing everything that you’re doing for our firefighter families.
Homes for Heroes Circle of Giving
Grants from the Homes for Heroes Foundation are made possible by the Homes for Heroes Circle of Giving and its network of real estate and mortgage professionals. Homes for Heroes, Inc. is committed to providing savings to community heroes; such as firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, military (active duty, reserves and veterans), healthcare professionals and teachers.
To expand its Circle of Giving, Homes for Heroes, Inc., donates a portion of its earnings to the Homes for Heroes Foundation. So, every time a hero buys or sells a home using the Homes for Heroes program, they are helping other heroes across the country facing a housing crisis or who are in need of urgent financial assistance.
If you are interested in learning more about how Homes for Heroes can guide you through the home buying, selling or refinancing process AND save you an average of $3,000 after closing, simply sign up to speak with a member of their team. They will follow up with you to answer all of your questions. When you tell them you’re feeling ready to speak with their local specialists in your area about home buying, selling, or refinancing, they will connect you with their local specialists to begin the process.
Simply visit the Homes for Heroes Foundation page if you’re interested in learning more about where it has awarded recent grants to hero organizations throughout the country, how much they’ve awarded to date, and how it all works.
If you’re interested in supporting and donating to the Homes for Heroes Foundation to assist heroes in need, please visit their donation page to submit your contribution via PayPal. And, thank you for your interest and support.
Thank you for watching another Homes for Heroes Foundation grant video about the impact it is making nationally and in local hero communities, along with hero supporting nonprofits who use the grant dollars they receive to assist the heroes they serve.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Homes for Heroes YouTube channel to get notified of the new hero grants awarded by the Homes for Heroes foundation.
