Caribou raises $12,209 for 9-11 Firefighters Fund Chief warns against false solicitations

CARIBOU – Fire Chief Roy E. Woods was wearing two hats Wednesday.

One was as the bearer of good news about a $12,209 donation from the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department to the 9-11 Firefighters Fund for New York City for families of emergency personnel who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

His other hat was that of president of the Maine Fire Chiefs Association with a recommendation about a fund-raising effort apparently headed by a Florida man spearheading a group known as the National Firefighters Foundation.

According to Woods, fire departments across the state have received a letter from E.E. Senn, executive director of a Bradenton, Fla.-based National Firefighters Foundation, inviting the departments to serve on an advisory board of the Maine Volunteer Firefighters Fund.

“We have contacted this man and received responses to our questions that were vague and misleading,” Woods said Wednesday afternoon. “To our knowledge, neither the Maine Fire Chiefs Association nor the Maine Federation of Firefighters were contacted before this letter was sent out.”

Woods recommended that people solicited by the Florida organization delay in participating.

The board of directors of the Maine Fire Chiefs Association voted not to support this fund until more information was forwarded, Woods explained. They urge Maine fire departments not to take part.

The Caribou donation to the 9-11 Firefighters Fund will go directly to families of fallen firefighters in New York City. Woods said there are no administrative overhead costs involved in that fund, and all money donated there goes directly to families involved in the disaster.

The money raised in Caribou was a communitywide effort, Woods said. Some $5,000 of the money was raised by firefighters with a “fireman’s boot” effort. A firefighter’s boot was placed beside a firetruck at several locations around Caribou with a sign describing the effort.

“I recall a small girl donating her life savings from a gallon jar filled with coins,” Woods said. “Another lady gave the $2 she had on her at the time, and later returned with more money.

“These are but two examples of the generosity of Americans who will help,” Woods said. “They want the world to know that we will stick together.”

The remainder of the $12,000 effort came from the community as a whole. Groups and clubs joined in with bingo games and private donations.

“Ours is not a rich community,” Woods said. “People gave all they could, and maybe more.”