Attention All OPFFA Locals

Reminder that September 21st is the call for all fire fighters to stand united in support of F.A.C.E.

In November 2004, at the age of 48, Brother Tim Catterall, and member of the Burlington Local was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. In 2006, Tim founded a registered not-for-profit Charitable Organization (#85476 5195 RR0001) called F.A.C.E. to assist our fire fighters. F.A.C.E. stands for "Firefighters Against Cancer's Existence" and the main objective of the foundation is to unite fire fighters everywhere to stand together one day a year, that being September 21st, and donate $5 to F.A.C.E.

F.A.C.E. is built around unity, the unity of all fire fighters coming together to fight an evil disease. We educate fire fighters of the dangers of cancer through prevention and awareness, however, we don't stop there. By putting our efforts toward research and finding cures for the diseases that afflict our fire fighters, we will have an opportunity to change the course of our future health. When we do that, all who suffer from these diseases will benefit from our actions.

F.A.C.E. was created because cancer of all different kinds is becoming more and more prevalent among fire fighters. There is no discrimination in the eyes of cancer. To it, everyone is equal. It takes away good people before their time. As individuals who fight fires we are at a much greater risk at getting cancer than the general public. We are treating the symptoms when we should be stopping the causes. If we work together towards one common goal, the possibilities are endless.

Monies raised are turned over to the leading cancer research facilities. There are over 200 cancers; which ones do we donate to? We currently donate to the eight cancers under most "Presumptive Legislation", which are leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, esophageal, colorectal, brain, bladder, kidney and ureter cancers. Funds collected by F.A.C.E. are put toward research and development of a cure for these various cancers. We seek out the best sources to assist us in achieving our goals. One of the places we provide monies to is Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, one of the top 5 cancer research facilities in the world. By donating to these cancers, millions of stricken people are helped as well. We need to take care of ourselves so we can continue to take care of others.

We want to put our F.A.C.E. in front of everyone and let them know we, the fire fighters, are here to help. So please put on your F.A.C.E., stand together and do what we do best - help others.

To learn more about FACE follow this link - http://www.firefightersface.com/fff/


Fred LeBlanc,
President, OPFFA
fleblanc@opffa.org