KENT—While most towns struggle to find volunteers for their emergency services, the Kent Volunteer Fire Department has seen steady growth in first responders and its auxiliary is adding new members to its rolls almost every month.
The auxiliary members assist the fire department with fundraising and non-emergency activities. Occasionally they are also called on to provide food and refreshments at long calls.
Anne McAndrew serves as the contact person and is one of the organizers for the group, although she doesn’t have an official title. She began more than five years ago by launching the monthly pancake breakfast in the firehouse.
“I think a lot of people are curious about the fire department,” McAndrew said, explaining that she first joined the Auxiliary to use her marketing skills to help the volunteers. She wanted to build awareness about KVFD and what the volunteer responders do.
What they do can be transformative for tired firefighters who have been battling a blaze for hours, perhaps under bad weather conditions.
KVFD President John Russell, who as the department’s administrative officer works closely with McAndrew, said Tuesday one of the most important aspects of the Auxiliary is to provide food and drinks on emergency calls.
“If we are at an all-night call and I am both physically and mentally fatigued, I can tell you the time and the place and the person who handed me that egg sandwich that I sunk my teeth into,” Russell said. “I don’t forget those moments, the smell of the egg sandwich, and how much I just needed something.”
He explained that for large incidents, first responders need food and refreshments. “There’s no practical way to bring in that volume of mutual aid people. You can’t pull Kent’s first responders off of a multi-hour or multi-day incident and bring in new people. You have got to replenish those members with food and beverages so they can go back in and function properly.”
Managing those logistics by a cohort of volunteers who aren’t serving in an emergency capacity works well.
“These volunteers seldom are needed, but when they are needed, they absolutely are needed,” Russell said. “That’s the special part of auxiliary because time and again they’ve been ready to roll even if it is once or twice a year.”
But the auxiliary is not inactive between emergency calls. It will have a booth on the Golden Falcon Field Saturday, Aug. 3, and Sunday, Aug. 4, during the Sidewalk Sale Days, selling hot dogs and sesame noodles with a side of Asian slaw.
Volunteers will share information about joining KVFD and will have a photo area set up with cutouts of a firefighter and EMT where people can photograph themselves. EMTs Jean Speck and Mary Ann Van Valkenburg will teach Hands Only CPR as well.
The pancake breakfast, which is held on the fourth Sunday of each month, has brought a new sense of community for the participants as well as the fire department, Russell said. The firehouse is located at 28 Maple St.
“The pancake breakfast has brought the fire department back into a community identity,” he said. “All responders are excited about this for the main reason the firehouse is being used to cultivate this community identity within the fire department and to bring something fun or pleasant, rather than just the stressful anxious tone of an emergency call.”
Auxiliary members, both women and men, run the fundraiser, which brought in $6,000 net during the last budget year and is now attracting 100 to 150 diners regularly, McAndrew said.
“People come into the firehouse, which is important. It is great for community building,” said McAndrew. “The food is fresh and offered at a good price.” Adults are $8, seniors $6 and children $5 for those age 8 and under.
At the breakfasts, there are emergency members on hand speaking with diners and available to talk with those who might want to join KVFD as a member. They will also take children interested in seeing the trucks into the bays.
“It has certainly increased the auxiliary membership,” Russell said
McAndrew said there is more served than pancakes, with sausage or bacon offered and “eggs cooked to order.” People also leave sizeable donations. “We’ve had up to $300 more than once,” she said.
“It has been a great growing extension of the fire department,” Andrews said of the auxiliary. “We do a lot of community outreach.”
One of the new auxiliary members is Karla Covell.
“Since joining, I have loved working with the auxiliary team to make improvements to the breakfast. Helping to better organize and train the volunteers has helped us to increase our capacity to serve more folks, which in turn leads to more money for the fire department,” she said. “It’s particularly rewarding to know that those funds go directly to the fire department and helping support emergency services. I look forward to spending those few hours every month to serve my community.”
The auxiliary decided to take a two-month break from the breakfasts this summer and the next one will be held Sept. 22, which is also the same day as the Artisan Craft Fair at the firehouse, another auxiliary fundraiser.
One of the newest fundraising ideas is to bring back Bingo, a fundraiser that was held in the 1990s but discontinued when there wasn’t enough manpower to keep it going. It was also offered for decades at the Kent Firemen’s Fair, held each summer. Two of the newest auxiliary members, Emmy Osborne and Ellie Place, are investigating the logistics of getting a permit from the state to offer the activity, which is considered a form of gambling when cash prizes are offered.
Bingo has not officially been brought to the KVFD membership yet for a vote, but Russell said the members are aware of the desire. The auxiliary members “have been cautioned about the level of bureaucracy involved,” he said, and they haven’t been dissuaded and have “responded with practical ideas that show they are listening.”
KVFD officially launched its auxiliary in the 1990s as a separate form of membership for people that wanted to help the fire department. Prior to then food and refreshments for large calls were organized by spouses of members or townspeople willing to help. Under the bylaws, members are considered non-emergency personnel. Applications are available online.
There are 36 auxiliary members on the KVFD list but not all are active. Russell said that McAndrew is working to update the list to verify that everyone listed still wants to be a part of the group.
“In the last three years, there have been 12 new auxiliary members join,” he said, crediting auxiliary members Elizabeth “Liz” Place and McAndrew for bringing them in.
During the past four years, since the Covid pandemic, emergency membership has also been growing. In 2021, Larry Schenk was the first person in years to apply to become an EMT, Russell said, noting that Schenk is now chair of the Recruitment and Retention Committee.
“Each year our enrollment has increased more and more,” Russell said. There have been eight members join on the fire side and nine on the EMS side.
He credited Place, as a member of the Recruitment and Retention Committee, of being pivotal in helping codify the process of becoming a new department member. Any new member is required to have a sponsor, who is already a member, and that person is to help guide the new member and show them the ropes of the volunteer fire department.
“That’s what’s great about the auxiliary. People who are confident they don’t want to be a firefighter or EMT still have a valuable place in the fire department,” Russell said.
