Since 1997, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) has awarded more than $2.9 million in scholarships to spouses, partners, children and step-children of fallen firefighters through the Sarbanes Scholarship Program. This is possible through the generous support of several partners, including the Engine Company 5 Foundation/Steel Family Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation.

For the last several years, the Engine Company 5 Foundation has awarded additional funds to nine of our scholarship recipients through the Terry Manning and David Edwards Memorial Scholarships. In the future, the Engine Company 5 Foundation wants to increase that number and assist more children of fallen firefighters wishing to pursue a degree.

To achieve this goal, the Engine Company 5 Foundation/Steel Family Charitable Foundation is looking for a few fire hero families who would be interested in partnering to form a survivors’ scholarship. This scholarship would be awarded to qualified applicants with the NFFF/Sarbanes Scholarship, without the expense and hassles of forming a not for profit tax deductible organization. A survivors’ scholarship fund would actively raise funds, including individual donations, and serve as a committee to help select scholarship applicants from the list provided by the NFFF.

Scholarships can be awarded under the name of a family survivor’s scholarship or a specific memorial scholarship that honors a fallen firefighter. With the 501(c)(3) status of the Engine Company 5 Foundation any funds donated will be tax deductible.

All expenses such as accounting, IRS reporting, legal or other administrative costs would be kept to a minimum and shared with the Engine Company 5 Foundation/Steel Family Foundation to maximize the annual award amounts.

For more information, please contact John Steel at (317) 797-3789 or by E-mail [email protected].