Burn Bulletin

Last month, we introduced our sticker of the month for 2025. When you receive your stickers, please be sure to show it off on social media, tagging @aarbf, and use the hashtags #aarbf #shareyoursticker.

Reminder – you can earn your sticker by volunteering or donating $100 or more within the given month (one sticker per person). Each month will have an exclusive design, representing our appreciation, or highlighting one of our programs or services.

Applications are open now through May 31, 2025 for the Woody and Louise Reed Bridge to Life Scholarship. This incredible program, made possible by the Reed family, awards scholarships to burn survivors or their immediate family members seeking post-secondary education after high school. This can be community college, college, university, or trade school and is open to all ages going directly into or returning to education.

For burn survivors pursuing higher academic degrees, Master’s level or PhD, use the same application for the Aiming Higher Scholarship, funded through Care Plans for Life, to supplement your school cost and pave the way to your bright future.

Apply today at: https://forms.gle/pjkdLejUMfefvXsbA

For questions, please contact us at info@aarbf.org.

Applications are now open for Champ Camp Counselors and CITs. This year’s camp will be held June 7th-14th (Counselors arrive Thursday, June 5th).

Apply today: http://app.campdoc.com/register/aarbf

Applications close on February 28, 2025.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Erika “Kika” Mendoza at emendoza@aarbf.org.

Join AARBF on February 13th from 6:30 to 8 pm for our monthly Burn Care Professionals Support Group.

This group is designed as a monthly group in which burn care professionals such as Nurses, Firefighters, Social Workers, and other related professionals can come together to share their experiences while caring for Burn Survivors in both hospital and acute settings. The fires in Southern California continue to have a tremendous impact on the residents and first responders in the affected areas, and for those not in SoCal, the fires might serve as a difficult reminder of past fires in other parts of the state. AARBF holds space for any burn care professional having difficulty processing the impact wildfires, past and present, have on us. We welcome you to join us if you would benefit from support, or offer support to those currently in need. Our support group will be facilitated by an AARBF Care Manager aimed at supporting the mental health of our dedicated healthcare professionals, first responders, and support staff.

The support group will take place via Zoom. Please reach out to Michael at mknopf@aarbf.org for questions.

Did you hear the news? Registration is now open for the Women’s Empowerment Weekend, March 27th-30th in Oakhurst, CA. The weekend event is open to women burn survivors ages 21+.

Register today: http://app.campdoc.com/register/aarbf

If you have any questions, please reach out to Erika “Kika” Mendoza at emendoza@aarbf.org.

Mark Your Calendar – The annual Torrance Firefighter’s Spaghetti Dinner & Bake Sale is coming up quickly on March 8th. Proceeds of this event benefit AARBF and Champ Camp. We are so grateful for the tremendous support of the Torrance Firefighters Association, Local 1138. We hope to see you there!

Our hearts feel heavy seeing the devastation in Southern California and our thoughts are with those who have lost homes and businesses, those who have had to evacuate and don’t yet know if they have a home to return to, and of course, the firefighters and first responders working on containment. 

We know this experience can be especially difficult for children, which is why we offer a Children & Recovery from Wildfires guide, designed to help children and families respond to the psychological impact of wildfires. This is a free resource and we encourage you to download a copy and send it to your family and friends. 

Wildfires can also surface a lot of emotions for burn survivors. If you are a survivor, please remember your feelings are valid and it is important to acknowledge them and seek for support when needed. It is okay to talk to someone about it. Our Care Managers are here to support you. We provide both one-on-one peer support and group support. Please reach out to Martha Banks at mbanks@aarbf.org or Michael Knopf at mknopf@aarbf.org and let us know how we can help. 

If you are still facing the threat of evacuation, it is not too late to create a “go bag” with the essentials using the 6P’s of Evacuation:

• People & pets
• Papers, phone numbers & important documents
• Prescriptions, vitamins & eyeglasses
• Pictures & irreplaceable memorabilia
• Personal computer, hard drive & disks
• “Plastic” (credit cards, ATM cards) & cash

For additional resources, please download a copy of the Wildfire P.R.E.P.A.R.E. Guide from the AARBF website at: www.aarbf.org/prepare.

On Saturday, December 7th, we welcomed 100 guests at the Central Valley Holiday Party at the Clovis Rodeo Grounds. It was a great time filled with cookie decorating, bike raffle, food, and visiting with Santa.

We could not create this experience for our burn survivors and their families without our fabulous supporters who provided toys, cookie supplies, bikes, and volunteered at the event. We had 18 volunteers to help make the magic happen. 

Thank you to Central Valley Firefighters Credit Union, CRMC Burn Unit, Fresno Fire (bike helmets), Toy Drive partners Sierra High CSF, Coalinga Fire, and “Bear with Us” the Central Valley Chapter of Good Bears of the World.

With 94 guests in attendance, the SoCal Holiday Party on Sunday, December 8th was a wonderful experience for our survivors and their families. This year we welcomed additional SoCal community partners to help make this event memorable for our survivors and their families. 

Once again, we were fortunate to have the support of Al Malaikah Shrine Club who have opened their doors to us for the past three years. 

We had two organizations conduct toy drives on our behalf. Thank you to F&A Federal Credit Union for having a collection box available in their lobby. 

We also thank LGC and Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc. for creating and executing their toy drive. This fraternity is focused on community service, scholarship, and leadership for the Latinx community and more. In addition to their toy drive, they also provided volunteers for the holiday party where they could see first-hand the smiles their efforts brought to the survivors and their families.

We were also grateful for a generous toy donation from our friends at Children’s Burn Foundation. Thank you for your continued support.

Last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank our AARBF volunteers who so generously give their time to this event and others throughout the year. Thank you for all you do to support AARBF.