Today I bought a rescue saw, three AEDs, six ice water rescue suits, 5 sets of turnout gear, 7 helmets, 6 pairs of boots, and a rapid deployment craft, all for six volunteer fire departments in Ontario, Canada, my home province. This makes 28 grants so far for the men and woman who volunteer to serve their small communities in Ontario.
This was a happy day for me. 🇨🇦
How lucky am I to be able to follow my passion for helping firefighters and first responders in my home province of Ontario? I’m overjoyed today to be announcing my third series of grants to five volunteer fire departments across the province. From the Pikwakanagan Fire Rescue to four other departments in all corners of the province, these various departments will receive 8 new sets of bunker gear, a Jaws of Life, a water tender, portable safety lights, and 30 sets of high visibility coveralls. It’s a well spent $50,000 if it helps keep the ones who volunteer to serve their communities safe.
For more on these heroes please visit https://www.jennysheroescanada.com
Hey, who wants to put on 75 pounds of equipment and go into a house on fire? No? Well these people, and many others, actually volunteer to do it for the good of their community. That’s why I am driven to help.
I just revealed the six winners of my second series of grants to Ontario’s volunteer firefighters. Pictured above is the team from the Township of East Zorra-Tavistock who will receive a fire suppression kit. Five other departments will be receiving a radio repeater, vehicle stabilization kit, thermal imaging cameras, and AED, gas detectors, and tablets for fire trucks. It’s my first of three grant opportunities this year.
It’s a privilege to do my part to help keep these volunteers safe and to help them provide the best service to their communities. To see all the winners or to send them a message, just go to JennysHeroesCanada.com.
Thank you to the Firefighting In Canada team for putting together this great video on all of the “Jenny’s Heroes 🇨🇦 Canada” grant winners.
I am very excited to finally reveal the winners of my first Jenny’s Heroes ?? CANADA grants. It was supposed to be one grant of $25,000 but we got so many more applications than expected, that I doubled the amount to $50,000 this time. The extra $25,000 allowed us to spread the aid to several smaller fire departments as well. The applications were carefully reviewed by a qualified panel in Canada and by me as well, and each winner is listed below when you scroll down. Feel free to send them your congratulations and messages of support through the Comments link. Here we go!
The winner of the first Jenny’s Heroes 🇨🇦 Canada grant will be announced on Tuesday, October 9th. It’s taking a little longer due to the overwhelming response – over 100 applications! Each application has been reviewed by a qualified panel of 4 people in Canada and I also reviewed every single one. Between all of us, we have finally agreed on where the first grant should go. I can hardly wait to share the news!
Here is the place I grew up. The beautiful province of Ontario, Canada is one of ten provinces and three territories that make up the country and of course, Ontario is the best one! 🇨🇦 Of the 2 million beautiful lakes in Canada, 250,000 are in Ontario, along with moose, elk, timber wolves, bears, caribou and more, especially farther north. All of this land and wild life is vulnerable to fires and there are hundreds of teams of volunteer firefighters all over Ontario ready to jump in during an emergency. Whether it be a fire or a highway crash, water or ice rescues, or any medical emergency, volunteer firefighters are on it. I respect their commitment to their communities and the risks they are willing to take.
My offer of providing equipment to these brave firefighters is underway and applications are coming in (a lot more than I expected) and being reviewed by a team of professionals in Canada and myself here in the U.S.. Requests have come in from as far south as Windsor (close to my hometown of London), east almost to Ottawa, our capital, west to the border of Manitoba, and as far north and remote as Red Lake, Ear Falls, and Moonbeam.
Their needs cover a broad range of equipment from rescue craft to safety boots to new flashlights — it’s clear that help is needed. That’s why I’m here and I plan to continue this grant program as long as the needs are there. More details are coming soon.
Here’s a nice mention from CTV London, posted just as a new wildfire is raging in Ontario. I’ll be honored to help.
I have a profound respect for anyone who chooses a life of service to their community and even more so when the risks are great. That’s why I am offering grants up to $25,000 to support the small volunteer fire departments in Ontario, the province where I grew up. Not knowing where to start, I contacted the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs last month and got a warm reception from Executive Director Richard Boyes while I shared with him my desire to help, and he in turn provided a lot of helpful information about the needs of Ontario’s volunteer firefighters. I knew this was going to be good.
Mr. Boyes put me in touch with Michelle O’Hara (the one who did all the work!). She is the Business Development and Operations Manager for the OAFC and she worked tirelessly on putting this grant program together, addressing every tiny detail, sharing emails with me throughout, and now only one month later, we have a grant program!
We decided to call it “Jenny’s Heroes 🇨🇦 Canada” because anyone who chooses to help their fellow citizens is a hero and I love Canada and want to help where help might be needed. Simply put, these grants are for the purchase of equipment to support and keep safe the volunteer firefighters who serve in Ontario. For more on my new philanthropic venture click here.
By the way, I am very familiar with the beautiful province of Ontario. In the early 1960s when I was still a teenager, I played drums in a band and toured all over Ontario from my hometown of London all the way up to Kirkland Lake, Timmins, and Kapuskasing. In fact, I found a newspaper clipping of my first band, the JAD Trio playing in Kirkland Lake in 1965…
My career in show business began in Ontario in 1960s and took me all the way to the Jenny Jones Show, which was nationally syndicated from 1990 to 2003. I got lucky and now I want to give back.
Now here is some information about Jenny’s Heroes U.S. where everyday people spent my donations to benefit their communities and even THEY wanted to support their firefighters and first responders. Here are just a few of the gifts that were given:
Jaws of Life donated to the Wolf Creek All Volunteer Fire Department, Wolf Creek, Oregon
400 High Visibity Safety Vests + 28 Sets of Battery Operated Turbo Flares donated to Clark County Emergency Responders, Greenwood, Wisconsin
Fully Equipped Dodge Charger Police Car donated to the Ludwiki Police Department, Hinesville, Geogia
Narcotics Tracking Dog donated to the Charles City Police Department, Charles City, Iowa
Thermal Imaging Camera, Jaws of Life Pump, Rescue Saw, Deck Gun, and AR-FFF-Foam donated to the Turkey Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Turkey Creek, Kentucky
4-Wheel Drive Patrol Vehicle donated to the Gillette College Campus Police in Gillette, Wyoming
Telescoping Pole Trimmer Saws donated to Middlesex Taylor Township Volunteer Fire Department, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
For more on “Jenny’s Heroes 🇨🇦 Canada,” click here.
For more on Ontario Fire Services Equipment Grant, please visit the OAFC website.
CANADA
CALIFORNIA
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