EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT Mary Werderitch, IFSA Executive Director

From the November 2009 newsletter...
The Illinois Fire Safety Alliance (IFSA) 68th Annual Fire Prevention Week Luncheon was a success thanks to many amazing people, departments and organizations. Chief Tom Freeman has been asking us for years to try Boback’s Signature Events out in his neck of the woods. We are so glad we did, the venue was wonderful. Chief Freeman took care of providing someone to do the invocation; coordinated the effort to have his department, Lisle-Woodridge and Naperville cross the ladders outside and graciously welcomed our guests. Did you know this was our 25th Anniversary of hosting this Luncheon? As I mentioned at the luncheon, this event is not a fundraiser for us but is an opportunity to celebrate the dedicated people in public education and the fire service.

Special thanks to the Honor Guard from Lisle-Woodridge and the Northern Illinois Honor Guard.

Hosea Sanders has played such an important role in the success of ABC Channel 7 Chicago’s Operation Save A Life; we thought it would be appropriate to invite him to be the Master of Ceremonies at the Luncheon this year. We are very grateful not only to him but ABC Channel 7 Chicago as well. This man leads a very busy life and keeps hours we wouldn’t want to and still took the time to make a difference for us.

Our Keynote Speaker, or should I say Comedian, Alex Jackson, had us chuckling to the point of tears. He gave us a good dose of how good life can be if we remember to laugh. Personally I enjoyed watching the audience relate to some of the topics he had us laughing about.

When I first spoke with Chief Jackson to schedule his attending our luncheon, I asked him how things were going in Minneapolis with his budget. Was he closing the Prevention Bureau to cut back on staff and meet his budget requirements? His response was a surprise to me, “not a chance, we did that years ago when our budget was challenged. It wasn’t more than a year or two later that the powers to be asked why are fire incidents and injuries had increased?” After that he wouldn’t even consider reducing his Prevention Bureau staff. It’s food for thought, don’t you think? The IFSA will hate to see the number of campers go up at Burn Camp “I Am Me” because of budget cuts.

The IFSA Board of Directors are some of the most dedicated people I ever have had the pleasure to work with. They have very busy lives, including those that are retired and they still find time to give to our organization with a passion. It would be a shame not to mention the talented staff I have surrounded myself with in the IFSA office.

Jill Friedrichs keeps us organized financially and Laura Barros has taken on the Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Program with a vengeance! They both run the day to day operations in the office and I often wonder how we ever did all we do without them. Thank you.