Over Labor Day weekend, 22 Burn Survivors and their families attended our annual family camp, The Getaway, in Coarsegold, CA. Activities included workshops and discussion groups, a variety show, and tons of fun outdoor activities such as paintball, high ropes, a climbing wall, a nature walk, children and teens’ activities, and a camp fire!

We’d like to thank Jen Hartley with Handle with Care Burn Scar Massage Therapy for providing the massages for 36 Burn Survivors and their family members. We are also so grateful that the Ruch-Host Family was able to join us for this amazing weekend. A huge thank you to our volunteers that helped make this camp a huge success: D, Ricky Rescue, Chop Suey, Hamster, Belle, Snoopy, Spunky, Shred, Athena, Skipper, Apollo, and Kimchi! Also, we’d like to thank John Auerbach for joining us at the Getaway from the Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR.

On September 12, 2018, NASA Ames Fire Department hosted their Annual Pancake Breakfast to support AARBF at Moffett Field. Over 100 NASA employees and residents at Moffett Field came out to enjoy some delicious flapjacks and the company of the awesome NASA Ames Firefighters! A big thank you to these dedicated individuals and we can’t wait for the BBQ Fundraiser on October 24th!

Approximately 104 golfers came out on September 7th for the NorCal Fire Prevention Officers’ Golf Tournament that took place at Chardonnay Golf Club in Napa, CA. The Fire Prevention Officers’ devotion to fire and burn prevention is unmatched and we appreciate them continuing to support AARBF with this beautiful and fun tournament.

On September 8, 2018 the Sprinkler Fitters UA Local 483 held their Annual Golf Tournament at Redwood Canyon Golf Course in Castro Valley, CA. Over 160 golfers were out with the Sprinkler Fitters Local 483 and this group has certainly been long time supporters of AARBF, over 25 years! They have raised over $300,000 over that time for AARBF and Champ Camp and we couldn’t be more grateful. An amazing group of people coming together for a great cause!

This year, the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation was able to send 12 Burn Survivors and their family members to World Burn Congress (WBC). WBC was held from September 12 -15 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and burn survivors, their family members, Firefighters, and Burn Care Medical Professionals came from all over the world to be there.

Thursday night was our traditional dinner night for all of our scholarship winners. We had a great dinner and lots of conversation at GP Sports restaurant. Following dinner, we held our annual Ice Cream Social. We had over 75 guests for desert that evening! Attendees were from burn foundations, hospitals and the burn community. We are honored to not only participate in WBC every year, but also to provide the means for so many burn survivors to attend.

On September 15, 2018, Eddy Bird and his family hosted their annual Beerfest in Pacifica, CA. Throughout this all day event, over 100 people came to enjoy the amazing homemade brews! The 21 Badfish Brew Co. beers are brewed in Eddy’s own garage and the Beerfest is hosted in his backyard. His neighbor is even gracious enough to bring down a section of fence and set up a bouncy house in their backyard for the kiddos! Eddy is kind enough to donate the funds that the Beerfest brings in to a charity every year. We were honored to be chosen last year with a total donation of $9,000 and beyond grateful that he selected Champ Camp again this year, with a donatation of $8,000 from this event!

A big thank you to the Bird Family for not only allowing us to attend this fantastic event, but for also selecting Champ Camp to receive the funds again this year.

On September 17, 2018, we held our annual Peninsula Firefighter’s Burn Relay, starting at NASA Ames/Moffett Field Fire Department and ending at San Francisco Fire Department, Station 7. There were 16 total stops at fire stations all over the South Bay. With a total of 27 fire departments and organizations participating, we were able to raise an AMAZING total of $75,740.88!!!

We’d like to thank the following departments and organizations that joined us for this year’s relay and generously donated:

– NASA Ames Fire and Emergency Services & the Moffett Field Firefighters Association
– Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety
– Mountain View Fire Department & Mountain View Firefighters Random Acts
– Santa Clara County Fire Department
– Palo Alto Fire Department & Palo Alto Firefighters Charitable Fund
– Menlo Park Fire Protection District & the Menlo Park Firefighters Association, District 10 of IAFF Local 2400
– Redwood City Fire Department
– Belmont Fire Department & the Belmont City Manager
– Foster City Fire Department & the Foster City Firefighters Association
– San Mateo City Fire Department & the San Mateo Firefighters’ Association
– Central County Fire Department
– San Bruno Fire Department & the San Bruno Professional Firefighters Association
– South San Francisco Fire Department and the South San Francisco Firefighters Local 1507
– North County Fire Authority and the Daly City Firefighters – IAFF Local 1879
– Colma Fire Department and the Colma Firemen’s Social Club
– San Francisco Fire Department, the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, and SF Fire Credit Union
– Fire Associates of Santa Clara Valley
– Wicktonville Fire Department, Inc.
– Half Moon Bay Volunteer Fire Department
– Fire Support Group
– Dell & Connie Lindstum and Tom Shafer

A very special thank you to the Foster City Firefighters Association for providing a delicious lunch and the San Francisco Black Firefighters Association for catering an amazing dinner from J & D’s BBQ! Both departments kept our over 60 relay participants & volunteers well fed and taken care of!

We’d also like to thank our key relay coordinators and volunteers, Central County Firefighters, Steve Besozzi and Herman Barahona, Woodside Fire Protection District Public Education Officer, Selena “Pookie” Brown, and Belmont PD Volunteer/Mobile Command Ops, Brandon Vaccaro.

Last but certainly never least we’d like to thank the law enforcement officers that made our relay possible! We are so grateful to CHP – Golden Gate Division, CHP – Redwood City, and all the local police department motorcade officers that escorted our relay through traffic and kept us and the community members safe!

On September 24, 2018, we held our 36th Annual Charity Golf Tournament. With Ken Hewett, the tournament’s organizer, retiring; Joshua Hewett has stepped into his dad’s (big) shoes and taken over the tournament… and Josh did an absolutely fantastic job! We had 114 golfers at the Via Verde Country Club this year. Dinner was served along with raffle prices, silent auction and a 50/50.

A big thank you to Champ Camp Counselors, Silly Goose and Belle, for helping check everyone in and sell snacks to the golfers. A special thanks to Toni Hewett, who worked tirelessly helping Josh make sure this tournament went off without a hitch.

Our Board President, Andrew “Monkey” Mersmann, also gave a speech about the foundation and was there to speak with all the guests. It was a beautiful day and we are so grateful to the Hewett family, and all the participants, for their support!

September 14 – 16, 2018, 27 Burn Survivors and 21 volunteers came together to spend an amazing weekend at Morro Strand State Beach for the 2018 Beach Adventure Trip. The survivors and volunteers arrived to the camp grounds Friday afternoon where everyone was welcomed with open arms by the Brunner family alongside Buggy and Taz. Randa Roo prepared a fun tie-dye activity which then lead to a delicious dinner. The group spent quality time playing board games and hanging out by the campfire before the big surf day.

On Saturday morning we got our wet suits were on and it was time to hit the waves! Everyone was eager to get into the water and begin surfing, despite the water being around 55 degrees. Back on the sand, an intense game of volleyball took place as well as burying people in the sand!

Saturday afternoon hit, and everyone seemed to be so tired from surfing. Some naps took place, but in the end everyone came together for a very fun trolley ride around the town. More activities took place like the most intense game of UNO, watching the sunset, hanging out by the campfire and settling down to watch the movie “Surf’s up.” A big shout out to City of Morro Bay Fire Department for providing yummy root beer floats.

To end this amazing trip, the group was able to spend the morning kayaking in the bay. Many saw, otters and sea lions. Overall, it seemed as though no one wanted this trip to end. Thank you to everyone who participated, we certainly can’t wait to see you all back next year!

A special thank you to Sun Bum for providing our Beach Adventure Trip with loads of sunscreen. Our survivors were very excited to see that the product is Gluten free and Vegan. They were also very excited to have been able to take a bottle back home to continue using and sharing with their family. Thank you Sun Bum for helping protect our survivors from the sun this past weekend.

We are so grateful to the Hayward Firefighters Local 1909 for hosting their annual Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, September 24, 2018. Over 100 golfers came out, had a fantastic time and supported the Hayward Firefighters and AARBF. The tournament was played at the beautiful TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, CA and the views were spectacular. We are honored that the Hayward Firefighters have selected AARBF and Champ Camp to receive the proceeds from this amazing event!

On September 29, 2018, Mountain View Firefighters Random hosted their Annual Pancake Breakfast and AARBF was honored to take part. Hundreds of Mountain View community members came out to enjoy a delicious breakfast, provided by Facebook volunteers, firefighting demonstrations, and a silent auction with amazing items… they even had a signed guitar from Jason Aldean!

The Mountain View Fire Department and Mountain View Firefighters Random Acts have been long time supporters of AARBF and we can not express our gratitude enough for selecting us to continue to receive the proceeds from this event. Thank you for your dedication and passion in helping burn survivors and preventing burn injuries in your community!

We now have an easy way you can make a big difference just by going about your day. Our new app lets you live your life and do good — at the same time!

The app is called My Donations to AARBF and you can find it in the Apple App Store by searching aarbf or by clicking here. It’ll be available for Android phones soon!

Every time you use a linked account we will automatically round up your purchase to the nearest dollar, and that spare change will be donated to help our important work. Here’s how it works: When you make a purchase, like $65.49 on groceries or $8.76 for lunch, we will round up to the nearest dollar and all those nickels, dimes and quarters will be donated to AARBF. And don’t worry, you can cancel at any time.

Please take a moment to download our app today, every little bit helps!

Volunteer Opportunities:

• Northern California Volunteer Opportunities
  • Please contact Anne “Kimchi” Hildebrand at ahildebrand@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 x19 if you have interest in any of the following:
    • Each year, AARBF partners with the San Francisco Fire Department to educate thousands of kids in fire and burn prevention. This program also entails pre- and post- tests to track learning. We need help pairing students’ pre- and post- tests and scanning them so that they can be graded by a computer program and analyzed by a statistician.
    • Anyone living in San Francisco, on the Peninsula, or all the way down to San Jose/Gilroy; we need volunteers to sponsor the toy drive at their local Bank of the West. That would entail collecting the toys every 1-2 weeks.
    • Also, we need volunteers to help at the holiday parties, which will take place on December 8 in San Jose and December 9 in Berkeley.
    • Connections needed! We are looking for a new therapist for support group facilitation and for a food sponsor for the East Bay Support Group (1x/month).
  • Central California Volunteer Opportunities
    • Please contact Erika “Kika” Corona-Mendoza at ecorona@aarbf.org or 559-621-4016 if you have interest in volunteering for the following:
      • We need volunteers for our Central Valley Holiday Party on December 1. We will need help collecting toys and volunteers to assist at the holiday party itself.
    • Southern California Volunteer Opportunities
      • Please contact Margarita “Cubby” Rodriguez at mrodriguez@aarbf.org or 818-848-0223 x16 if you have interest in any of the following:
        • We need help making our Holiday Party on Sunday, December 16, 2018 (times 10-4PM) happen! Volunteer opportunities include mailing invitations before the event, toy gift wrapping and helping day of.
        • We are also looking for volunteers to help out at our Pasadena office organizing donated items in our storage room during the month of November.

Upcoming Events:

• November 3: Nor Cal Kayaking Trip in Sausalito, contact Anne “Kimchi” Hildebrand at ahildebrand@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 with any questions.
• November 4: (1:30pm – 3:30pm), SoCal Survivors Support Group, contact Margarita “Cubby” Rodriguez, mrodriguez@aarbf.org or 818-848-0223 Ext. 16 with any questions.
• November 6: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Santa Clara Valley Medical Support Group, contact Anne “Kimchi” Hildebrand at ahildebrand@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 with any questions.
• November 7: (6:30pm – 8:00pm), East Bay Burn Support Group, contact Anne “Kimchi” Hildebrand at ahildebrand@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 with any questions.
• November 8: East Bay Firefighters Burn Relay, contact Stephanie “Pocahontas” Boydell at sboydell@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 17 with any questions.
• November 13: (6:30pm – 7:30pm), Central California Burn Survivor Support Group, contact Erika “Kika” Corona-Mendoza at ecorona@aarbf.org or 559-621-4016 with any questions.
• November 14: (6:30pm – 8:00pm), Santa Rosa Support Group, contact Anne “Kimchi” Hildebrand at ahildebrand@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 with any questions.
• November 18: (11:30am – 4:00pm), 16^th Annual Firkin Fest at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley, contact Stephanie “Pocahontas” Boydell at sboydell@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 17 with any questions.
• November 29: (11:30am – 1:00pm), Saint Francis Hospital Burn Support Group, contact Anne “Kimchi” Hildebrand at ahildebrand@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 with any questions.