I hope everyone had a good Christmas and wish all of you a great 2019. The winter weather had been very pleasant but now the rain has set in. There has been a lot of sickness around and people are now starting to recover. Hope everyone stays healthy.
1st Vice President Larry Jennings and Secretary/Treasurer Jaime Miller completed and presented the FFAM 2019 Budget to the Board of Directors at the December board meeting and it was approved. They both worked very hard to present a balanced budget. Thanks for your hard work.
Here we are in the first couple weeks of the New Year and have many activities already being planned for 2019. Some of those include the FFAM Board Meeting in Sedalia on January 27, Winter Fire School in Columbia on February 1-3, the MO-Chiefs Conference at Big Cedar, in Branson on February 21-23, the FFAM Convention in Sedalia in April, and our Annual Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial Services on May 18 and 19, in Kingdom City. Many long hours are being expended to ensure all of these events will be worthy of your participation. Hope to see many of you at these events.
I would like to encourage everyone to nominate individuals and departments for the many awards that FFAM has to offer during its annual convention. Remember, the deadlines for nominations are February 28, 2019. I know there are many that are worthy of these awards, they just need to have someone nominate them. We have; scholarships, Fire Department of the Year, Chief of the Year, Fire Fighter of the Year, life saving, and many more. Please take the time today and go to the website and download and complete a nomination form and return it Joe Jennings at Johnson County Fire Protection District, Joe chairs the Awards Committee for FFAM.
All our FFAM committees have been meeting and making plans for 2019. If you have any items you would like for us to consider, please let one of the committee chairpersons know. We are here to serve our membership and to make FFAM an organization you desire to belong to. As I have appointed the committees, I have tried to make sure that every area of the state is equally represented. If you have a desire to serve and want to be considered for a certain FFAM committee, please let me know. Thanks to all that presently serve and spend many hours to better our organization.
I am looking for several items for our Annual Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial Service; I will need two (2) ladder trucks, honor guards, pipers, and drummers. If you are interested in any of these, please contact me at 573-581-6235 or chiefhoover@sbcglobal.net.
Chief James Ludden will serve as the Honor Guard Commander for the 2019 Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial Services. Please contact him if you are interested helping in the area of service.
Please contact Chief Ludden if you have an honor/color guard that would like to participate. We invite all honor/color guards to join the memorial services remembering our fallen brothers and sisters.
As always, I am available at the above phone number and e-mail address. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything.
I have announced that I will be retiring as Chief on March 1, 2019, after 44 years, from the Little Dixie Fire Protection District. It has been a pleasure serving this department.
Stay safe my friends and I am wishing each of you a great 2019. May God bless each and every one of you.
Kenneth Hoover
President
Fire Fighters Association of Missouri
FFAM
