2002-2003
As 15 members of The Portland Professional Fire Fighters
packed up their gear and donated materials to head to the Children’s Burn Camp
in Union CT, another 17 men and women donated their time to cover the shifts for
their fellow fire fighters as they work to create a camp for young burn victims
throughout New England. The annual effort is sponsored by the Portland Fire
Fighters Children’s Burn Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization started
by members of the Local 740. The camp is the creation of Art Luff, a retired
Bridgeport CT firefighter and President of The Connecticut Burns Care
Foundation.
Headed by David “Rico” Petruccelli, one of five board members of the Children’s
Burn Foundation, the crew built a new boathouse over Memorial Day weekend. “This
is a labor of love" said Petruccelli. "We want to build a camp where kids from 8
to 18 can come for a week in the summer, have fun and forget about their
problems for awhile.” Helping to build the 14 x 18 foot structure were Mike
Walker, Bob Pinder, John Joyce, Rich Merrill, Bob Stewart, Tim Flahery, Bob
Mctigue, Tim Kane, Dave Kenney, Kevin McGuire, Greg Cass, Dean Berry, Randy
Stewart, David Petruccelli, Rick O'Brion and a friend of the firefighters,
Portland resident Dave Cody. Rick's teenage son Danny and his friend Kyle also
helped around camp mowing, raking and cleaning up leaves.
The camp is a former Boy Scout camp on the Connecticut/Massachusetts border that
had fallen into disrepair over the past 10 years. The Children’s Burn Camp,
which has been in operation for 11 years, moved into the camp in 1998.
Previously, it had been leasing a portion of a YMCA camp for it’s one week of
operation.
This is the Portland Professional Fire Fighters fourth year working at helping
to rebuild the camp. The hope is that with more donations of money, and more
importantly, time, the camp can expand to offer more than just one week each
summer. “It takes a considerable amount of staff to host 45 kids," said Petruccelli, also a counselor at the camp.
"From cooks to counselors, it’s a big
volunteer effort from everyone involved, but we all do it for the kids.”
In addition to the effort and time donated by the Portland Professional Fire
Fighters, The Children’s Burn Foundation also solicited donations from a number
of area businesses: Rufus Deering, Bruno’s, Pat’s Meat Market, Maine Hardware
and Rockingham Electric all donated equipment or provided materials at cost to
help the reconstruction of the camp.
For more information about the Portland Fire Fighters Children’s Burn Foundation
and the Children’s Burn Camp, contact David Petruccelli at (207) 329-1276 or by
email at
helpingkids@portlandfire.com