Photo by Sarah Owens
Steven Hydinger, a member of the Mountain Brook First Responder Foundation's Board of Directors, interacts with children during Mountain Brook's Community Night Out event on Oct. 1, 2024.
The Mountain Brook First Responder Foundation is working to raise half a million dollars by the end of the year to support the city's first responders in times of need.
The foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, aims to assist first responders and their families in the event of injury, illness, death or personal disasters such as fire or weather related damage to their homes.
"What prompted this was a lot of people come up to Mayor Welch and say, 'Oh my gosh, the EMTs or the firemen were so nice, and they helped me. How can I thank them?,'" said Tanya Cooper, a member of the MBFRF's Board of Directors. "And this is a really nice way to do that."
Cooper is one of five board members, with others including Steven Hydinger of BREC Development, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lizzie Maymon, Christopher Mouron of Capstone Development Corp and David Faulkner, Alabama House Representative for District 46.
Cooper said the foundation has had a few large donors, but they hope to have community members regularly donate as well, with the goal of being able to get a check to a first responder in need within 24 hours of a request. Mountain Brook Police Chief Jaye Loggins said the city is very excited to offer their personnel this extra help during a crisis.
"We're hoping to just have an endowment type thing," said Cooper, "where we can invest the majority of the funds and have some of it just very liquid to use."
Mountain Brook employs over 64 fire/emergency first responders and 67 dedicated police officers. The foundation was founded to ensure these individuals do not go through a personal crisis alone, providing them the same support they offer to the community.
To learn more about the foundation or to donate, visit https://mbfrfoundation.org/.
