ST. GEORGE — Sometimes those who respond in our darkest hours need a little help getting through their own hard times.
Friends of First Responders St. George is a service organization that reaches out to emergency personnel and first responders in Washington County.
“It was a group we started here in SunRiver about two years ago,” Clark Kelsey told St. George News. “At that time there was a lot of negative portrayal of first responders and we wanted to spearhead a local effort that focused on them in a positive way.”
Kelsey said the group reaches out to police and fire departments and other law enforcement agencies in Washington County to provide extra help in any way they can.
“We work with first responders directly and ask them how we can help. We’ve helped get equipment, we’ve helped families in need,” Kelsey said, noting that the group also provides educational and technical scholarships for qualified family members of first responders in Washington County.
Kelsey said that Friends of First Responders St. George raised and donated more than $14,000 worth of much-needed equipment and gear.
They donated protective vests and tourniquets for the St. George police last Dec. 1, he said, and the group donated a dryer rack to the St. George Fire Department last Aug. 1.
Currently, the organization is raising funds to send eight St. George police officers and family members to attend National Police Week in Washington D.C. May 11-17.
The event is an annual law enforcement memorial that features survival conferences, a candlelight vigil, ceremonies and other services for police officers and their families.
Attendees in the St. George contingent going to Washington D.C. include the wife, parents and three children of late police officer Adam Ashworth.
As previously reported in St. George News, Ashworth was a St. George police officer who passed away due to COVID-19.
“The event (National Police Week) is coming up soon, and we want to do whatever we can to help this family,” Kelsey said.
Anyone interested in supporting the Ashworth family’s trip to National Police Week can do so at the Friends of First Responders St. George website.
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