December 2011 Volume 6, Issue 12 Inside This Issue: Officer Elections 1 Volunteers 2 President s Message Advisor s Message /Sta 4 November Meeting Christmas Parade 3 4-5 6-7 8-9 Santa s Village 10 2011 Review 11-12 Coming Events 13 Clothing Order 14 2012 Dues 15 January Calendar 16 Meeting Dates Dec: no meeting Jan 24, 2012 Feb 28, 2012 Mar 27, 2012 Apr 24, 2012 May 29, 2012 RSVP: CFAAARSVP@ gmail.com Officer Election Below is your new Board of Directors and the offices they will hold in 2012. Lon Burke Treasurer Debbie Conard John Douglas Richard Hardin Donna Leach President Alicia Marshall Secretary Lela Paksoy Bob Schneider Rick Wilder Vice President In addition, these non-board position are filled by: Heartwarmers Beth McLean Historian Dean Perrine/John Douglas Quartermaster Irene Redwine Hospitality Lela Paksoy & Alicia Marshall Scholarship Committer Bob Schneider (vetter), Lon Burke (Chair), Ray Knodel, Gary Reim Newsletter Editor John Shea There is no meeting this month. May everyone have a happy and safe holiday. We Won! Heartwarmers: A Thank You card for Frank Amadon, thanking him for his years of service with the CFAAA and Fire One. Get Well cards for Bob Schneider and Bruce Murphy. A condolence was sent to Steve Richardson, RFD, on the death of his mother.
Volunteers Needed After Holiday Holiday Party in January Our annual After the Holiday s Fire-Related Gift Exchange and Pot-Luck Dinner Party will be held January 24, 2012 at the Richardson Civic Center. This annual event is open to CFAAA members, and their spouses. The RFD will furnish the meat and veggies, and the membership will bring a pot-luck dish of either a dessert or salad. If you were in an even numbered CFA Class, please bring a dessert. If you were in an odd numbered CFA class, please bring a salad. If you wish to participate in the gift exchange you must bring a gift! The gift should be a fire related themed gift. The gift needs to be wrapped. If your spouse would like to participate in the white elephant gift exchange, he/she must bring a gift. What is a fire related gift? Use your imagination as you shop you all have seen something that relates to a fire department. Remember the gift should be something you would like to receive if you were the one getting the gift. Our usual time to start is 6:30 p.m. and our regular dinner buffet will start about 7:00 p.m. You will be asked to RSVP no later than January 20 so we can have plenty of meat and veggies. Please RSVP to: CFAAARSVP@gmail.com. RFD Awards Banquet in January The annual Richardson Fire Department s Awards Banquet is set for January 27, 2012. We need volunteers to help solicit gifts and donations for the door prizes. Please let the Board know if you can help out. Page 2
President s Message Happy Holidays Everyone! This is such a great time of year that you see more smiles than ever! Perhaps it s all the bright twinkling lights, the extra decorations that many businesses & homes put out, or the fact that somehow we all get out just a little more to see each other. I personally got to see lots of bright shiny faces while volunteering in the Fire House at Santa s Village. Kids and adults alike are mesmerized by all the decorations that the City of Richardson s Community Events department puts together for us each year. The kids are especially partial to the firefighters and think they are extra cool. I just happened to be walking around the village with John Douglas taking photos, when we paused by the CITV house where kids were being interviewed. There was an adorable little boy that just kept going on about how cool the Fire House was at Santa s Village and it was his favorite house out there. That really got me to thinking isn t that one of the reasons we all like to be involved with the CFAAA? What a great opportunity we all have to help our firefighters. And you know it s true you too like to put on the bunker gear especially when it s cold outside. At our November meeting we held elections for our 2012 Board of Directors. Thank you so much to our 2011 board members for all their hard work, and to those that have stepped down and are allowing new members to become involved. Please be sure to welcome our 2012 Board; Lon Burke, Debbie Conard, John Douglas, Rich Hardin, Alicia Marshall, Lela Paksoy, Bob Schneider and Rick Wilder. We had a board meeting on December 13th and determined officer positions which are listed on page 1 of this newsletter. A huge WHOO HOO! For getting the trophy back at the Christmas Parade! Thanks to all the volunteers that braved the less than desirable weather. The Fire Truck looked great! What a fun day! The board welcomes ideas from our members. I hope that you will be thinking about more ways you can participate in the coming year as we are planning activities and opportunity for involvement. Be sure to mark your calendars for upcoming events with the CFAAA. We look forward seeing you there! I hope you enjoy your time with your family and friends during this time of year and always. Thank you for all you do to help our amazing firefighters! Merry Christmas! Have an awesome day! Donna Donna.leach@cor.gov Page 3
Advisor s Message What's Happening at the Richardson Fire Department? We were notified last week that the Richardson Fire Department has received $340,000 from the Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program of the Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The grant money will be used to purchase an emergency driving simulator to train firefighters who operate fire and medical units. The new equipment will simulate a variety of hazardous road conditions for fire and ambulance apparatus, allowing first responders to be better prepared when they encounter similar conditions. The driving simulators will be housed in trailers for portability. Also, the driving simulator will be utilized to train FIRE 1 drivers in the operation of that vehicle. The new radio system will go into service January 2012. The new radio system will enable emergency first responders to communicate more easily between different government agencies, provide better city wide coverage and durable mobile unit specifically designed for fire department use. THANKS to all who assisted in making Santa's Village another great success. Thanks! sad Steve Dossett Page 4
Aerial Photographs of New RFD Station 4 Page 5
November Meeting Mystery Bald Spot. Photos courtesy of John Shea. Page 6
November Meeting continued Photos courtesy of John Shea. Who s got the banner? Page 7 Our new Board of Directors
Christmas Parade In the wee hours of the morning... Page 8 Photos courtesy of John Douglas and John Shea.
Christmas Parade On the road again... Page 9 Photos courtesy of John Douglas and John Shea.
2012 Future TCFAAA meeting dates: Jan. March 3rd May 5th July Sept Nov Open, Host City TBD Annual Chief's Forum, Hosted by Garland Hosted by Frisco Open, Host City TBD Open, Host City TBD Open, Host City TBD CFAAA Board Meeting Schedule for 2012 TCFAAA Officers for 2012: President Carrye Johnstone V. Pres Don Martin Secretary Nancy Risha Treasurer Ken Johnstone January 23, 2012 February 20, 2012 March 19, 2012 April 16, 2012 May 21, 2012 June 18, 2012 July 23, 2012 August 20, 2012 September 17, 2012 October 22, 2012 November 19, 2012 December 17, 2011 Santa s Village "Board meetings are open to any CFAAA member. They are held at 6:00 P.M. in the conference room at the RFD Administration offices on Greenville Avenue." Photos courtesy of Debbie Conard and John Douglas. Page 10
2011 in Review Page 11 Photos courtesy of Debbie Conard, John Douglas, David Hodges, Lindsay Dye, and John Shea.
Page 12 Photos courtesy of Debbie Conard, John Douglas, David Hodges, Lindsay Dye, and John Shea. Page 12
Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye Coming Events for 2011: January 17: Fire One at Plano. January 23: Board Meeting. January 24: After Holiday Holiday Party, Civic Center. January 27: RFD Awards Banquet. February 20: Board Meeting. February 28: General Meeting. Did you get a new address, phone number, e-mail address? If so, please let us know. Amarshall2331@gmail.com Instructions for Clothing Order form on the next page(14): If you wish to order any logo items, please click on the grey Submit by Email box at the top right side of the form. A new interactive format will pop up for you to fill out your information and select the item(s) you want to order. When all finished, please click on the far upper right (in the purple shaded area) Submit by Email. Shirts and Caps Our shirt/cap orders are running low. We have decided to go ahead and keep the caps on hand. If you would like to purchase one, please see Irene Redwine. Our shirts and other items will continue to be ordered as we receive requests. See the order form on Page 14. Page 13
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Invoice Year: 2012 Dues Statement PLEASE PAY THE FOLLOWING ITEM RCFAAA Phone: 972-744-5752 c/o Richardson Fire Department Fax: 972-744-5796 136 N. Greenville Avenue Richardson, TX 75081 Date Type Description Amount Due Dues Renewal Calendar year 2012 Total Thank you! Terms: Please pay upon receipt of this statement. REMITTANCE: (Please complete this section) DATE: AMOUNT: YOUR CANCELLED CHECK IS YOUR RECEIPT. Please print: NAME ADDRESS: PHONE: ALTERNATE PHONE: E-MAIL: Check below type of membership: Can we include your information in the members directory: Yes No $25.00 Single One Year $45.00 Single Two Year $65.00 Single Three Year Page 15
January 2012 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 New Year s Day 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 MLK 17 18 19 20 21 22 23Board Meeting 24After Holiday Party 25 26 27 RFD Awards 28 29 30 31 Page 16 Contact Us: Donna Leach, president donna.leach@cor.gov Rick Wilder,vice president rwilder50@hotmail.com Alicia Marshall, secretary amarshall2331@gmail.com Lon Burke, treasurer mailman399@aol.com Debbie Conard, director debbie.conard@tx.rr.com John Douglas, director johnpdouglas@gmail.com Rich Hardin, director rchardin@sbcglobal.net Lela Paksoy, director lelapaksoy@gmail.com Bob Schneider, director Bschnei5@csc.com John Shea, Newsletter jlshea3@verizon.net The mission of the Richardson Citizen Fire Academy Alumni Association (RCFAAA) is to function in an auxiliary capacity to assist, promote, and support the Richardson Fire Department through service, education and recognition CITIZEN FIRE ACADEMY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Find out more at: http://www.cor.net/firedepartment.aspx?id=8346.