Lions makes donation to Hastings Fire Department

By Bruce Karnick
Posted 3/16/23

On Friday, March 10th, Jolynn Frandrup and Brenda Irvin from the Hastings Lions Club presented a check to Hastings Fire Department Chief John Townsend. The funds were raised by the Lions Club’s …

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Lions makes donation to Hastings Fire Department

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On Friday, March 10th, Jolynn Frandrup and Brenda Irvin from the Hastings Lions Club presented a check to Hastings Fire Department Chief John Townsend. The funds were raised by the Lions Club’s recent breakfast.

According to Townsend, the donation of $1,354 will go towards mental health support for the staff at the fire department.

“The program that I switched to this year has a lot of other resources that we didn't have with our previous one, including some telehealth services. This new program will be good for us and with this new program we will be doing a significant amount of training so our staff will have more touches around their wellness and mental health. Then, they also have resources for if someone's struggling from a bad call. Mental health and physical health kind of go together, you can’t necessarily have one without the other all the time. So, that's where we utilize those funds,” explained Chief Townsend.

The funds came from the Lions Club’s Super Bowl Saturday breakfast held at Resurrection Methodist Church. The breakfast featured French toast as the main item along with the typical breakfast sides.

“People need to know that the fire department needs recruiting and retention,” said Brenda Irvin, Lions Club member. “One of the big pieces of retention is the mental health of the firefighters because they see some bad stuff. In order for them to deal with the stuff they see and face it again another day, they've got to be able to take care of themselves.”

The Lions Club of Hastings are also the creators of Totes for Hope. These Totes are carried in the two biggest vehicles of the fire department, and they contain items that help displaced families. Common everyday items we may take for granted in a normal situation, such as shaving cream, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, plastic silverware and plates, among hundreds of other items that a family might need for the first 72 hours after a fire.

So far, there have been 24 Totes for Hope given out in the past 12 years. Tote 25 and 26 are currently in the vehicles for the next time one might be needed.

More information on The Hastings Lions Club can be found at https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/hastingsrivertown/page-10.php or you can Google “Hastings MN Lions Club”