The California Firefighters Endowment. - California Fire Foundation

Heather Yonan, a 2009 Daniel A. Terry Scholarship recipient

Heather Yonan would like to be a school teacher and write a children's book aimed at helping children deal with the loss of a parent at a young age. Nicole Herman would like to be an emergency room doctor so that someday she can save someone else's father.

These hopes and dreams come from children of firefighters in California who've lost their lives in the line-of-duty.

Each year, the California Fire Foundation receives several applications for scholarships from children of fallen firefighters who share profound hopes and dreams. These are often based on giving back, inspired by the loss of a parent at an age younger that most.CLICK HERE to hear more about what these scholarships mean to children of fallen firefighters, in their own words.

The California Fire Foundation is proud to offer a $2,000 Daniel A. Terry Scholarship to each of these children, but with the rising cost of tuition and faltering economy, this is not nearly enough. Many of these children survive in single income households, where college is a dream rather than a reality.

The California Fire Foundation has unveiled its latest venture to help families of firefighters who have died in the line-of-duty: The California Firefighters Endowment. Its mission is to substantially increase the scholarship awards these children receive. In fact, in five years, the Foundation hopes to raise $2 million of endowed funds for this purpose.

With an average of ten scholarship applicants a year, this would increase the scholarship reward to $10,000 per child, forever.

To reach our goal, we are launching a comprehensive fundraising campaign. Firefighters are being invited to give and to engage members of their own local communities to join and give to our new Friends of California Firefighters program.

The California Fire Foundation has implemented this fund to meet the growing needs of firefighter families. For the children of fallen firefighters, these scholarships are often life-changing. They are also an assurance to every California firefighter that if the need arises, his or her children will get the support they need to achieve their dreams of a college education.

Please join us in this important campaign. To make a donation, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, contact Foundation Director Hedi Jalon at 800-890-3212 or hjalon@cpf.org

California Fire News 2012 

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