This year, Firefighters and EMS Fund learned of a referendum being held in Kirkland, Washington that may be able to benefit from our assistance. We reached out to the campaign committee, Neighbors for a Safer Kirkland, to understand their goals and objectives. Ultimately, we assisted them by aiding them with contacting and activating local voters. Here is what Mark Jung, campaign Co-Chair, who serves Kirkland as Battalion Chief, and Fire Marshall had to say:
Kirkland first recognized the need for a voter-approved funding initiative in 2012 while implementing the most recent fire strategic plan. By 2019, the department had completed many incremental improvements, but there were still costly projects that were impossible without going to voters for additional funding. After careful planning and thorough community engagement, we formed our campaign committee in August of 2020. The Firefighters and EMS Fund reached out to us shortly after and started a conversation about how they could support us. They have been awesome ever since, with text support, digital advertising, graphic design, and guidance on how to best reach our community.
The staff at the Firefighters and EMS Fund are knowledgeable and experienced at working with these kinds of campaigns, and they brought a lot of unexpected resources. Furthermore, they have been immediately responsive when we needed documentation for campaign-activity reporting or when we had questions. From start to finish, the Firefighters and EMS Fund has followed through on every commitment and consistently exceeded expectations. They have been a huge help. Aside from the firefighters themselves, they have been our biggest supporter.
