Dear Sisters & Brothers,

 

Fire Fighters Local 561 of Lake Charles, LA, lost one its own this past Thursday. Brother Nathan Garner suffered a heart attack due to the chemotherapy treatments he was receiving while fighting lymphoma. He was 40 years old.

 

Nathan was a quiet, gentle man. There is not a single person in this world that could ever say anything negative about his character. He was respectful, caring, hardworking, and everything else that we strive to be in order to say that we are good people. Nathan was a loving husband and father. He leaves behind a wife, a five year old son, a four year old daughter and a two year old daughter.

 

Brother Garner's family, much like many of our own, was not prepared for this tragic event. With no life insurance and little outside assistance to be had, life will be tough for the family in the coming days. We as a local have stepped up our efforts in order to help out the Garner family in order to ease some of their burden. We have set up the

 

 

 

 

Danny,

 

Let me first say, a big THANKS to you, General President Schaitberger and all the IAFF Locals nationwide that have offered assistance to our local during this recent disaster. Unfortunately, due to the inability to accommodate, we could not receive any goods or services at the time. I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to receive a call from you and the G. P. offering the full assistance of the IAFF. Needless to say, it made me proud to be an IAFF member. As you might imagine, the brothers and sisters of IAFF Local 140 performed with the utmost professionalism. It would be impossible to count the number of victims that were rescued during the extreme flooding all the while some of those members were losing all they had and in fact, some of their loved ones were being rescued by other fire fighters.

 

Unfortunately, I must now ask for your help and that of all my brother and sister IAFF locals. The task at hand is just too much for my locals resources, both monetary and manpower to handle alone. Quite simply, WE NEED YOUR HELP! As you know, we have submitted thirty applications for monetary assistance from both the IAFF and the TPFFA and expect to submit ten to fifteen more. However, as you might imagine, we will need much more help. Therefore, I am asking each local to assist Local 140 with the following:

 

Ø Money

Ø Building supplies

Ø Clothing - - please no used clothing.

Ø Household goods - - toasters, coffee maker, dishes, silverware etc

Ø Linens

Ø Bedding

Ø Cookware

 

We feel there are four steps to recovery:

 

1.       Emotional support:                         We have provided that to our members by utilizing a local crisis center name Centerstone.

2.       Demolition:                                        This stage is almost complete thanks to all the IAFF Local 140 volunteers.

3.       Reconstruction:                                This is where we need your help! We have secured a warehouse to store supplies and will accommodate personnel.

4.       Resupply:                                            Again we need your help to assist our members replacing all household goods.

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

Please visit our website at www.iaff140.org to view photos of the recent flooding.

 

Fraternally,

 

Gary Moore

(O) (615) 889-7250

(C) (615) 319-6691

2550 Park Drive

Nashville, TN  37214-2154