Volunteering

Most of you know that at one time Jason was a volunteer fire fighter with Prior Lake. He currently works full-time for the Mdewakanton Fire Department.

A few years ago Jason got a bug in his pants and wanted to started a Fire Explorer post. Explorers is run by Learning For Life...which in turn is the same organization as Boy Scouts. The premise behind Explorers is to give kids a chance at career exploration at a young age. In doing this, kids get to have hands-on contact with things like fire fighting, EMS, law enforcement, computer engineering, sports medicine, ...you name it! Jason was actually a Explorer with the Edina Police when he was in high school!

Roughly at the same time the fire marshal was asked by the president of the tribe to start a program that could give the reservation youth something to do and be involved in. Bada-bing! We started a post that would accept both community members and kids from the surrounding communities.

Jason and I logged the man hours and got the post up and running. Though we've hit a few snags along the way, we are giving it our all and refuse to give up. The kids that are involved LOVE it! Most of the kids are not into sports and not into school activities; they need an outlet. A lot of the kids have fathers that are volunteer fire fighters with departments in the area, and some are just really interested in EMS and/Fire Fighting.

On Friday Jason and a few of the other advisors are going to the state fair for a competition. Every year the first Friday of the fair is the Governor's Fire Prevention Day. The Learning For Life organization then puts on a competition for the kids to compete in through out the day. A few years ago our kids actually got the opportunity to be on TV! In the Teen park we had two staged auto extracations. Our group used the Jaws of Life to extracate "victims" from a wreck. John Hines from the K102 Morning Show MC'd the event.
This year the extracation will be done by another post, but just the same...it's great to see the impact the Explorers make on the guests at the fair!

I unfortunately can not attend the fair; I have a full-time job to attend to!

Besides assisting Jason with Explorers (which is minimal since the birth of MacKenzy!) I have now joined the New Prague Volunteer Ambulance. I've been an EMT for over 3 years now, and I have really had the itch to use my skills. When we moved to New Prague Jason immediatley said that I should join. I had already decided that I would, but to hear that he was excited about it was good too. I have to work 7 twelve hour shifts a month. Since I have a DAY job, I will work evenings and weekends. Like volunteer fire fighting, I respond to the ambulance garage from home. I don't have to sit there for 12 hours!!! Since I can pick my shifts, I obviously can schedule them around Jason's crazy schedule.
In joining New Prague Ambulance I've actually added some more kids to our Mdewakanton Explorer post. New Prague doesn't have a post, but there are kids willing to make the drive! I am going to be working with both the ambulance and fire to recruit New Prague kids for the post. We could use the added numbers in the post, and from what I've heard there are plenty of interested kids. New Prague could set up there own post, however they don't have someone willing to do the leg work to set it all up...and then man it!

With that said, this past Friday was my first shift...and we had ZERO calls!