Tom McMackin / Chief Sarah Hancock
The High Prairie Community Council and other members of the com-munity coordinated their efforts to revive the tradition of presenting a Firefighters’ Appreciation Dinner for High Prairie’s Fire District volunteers and their families, invited guests from Lyle Fire, and High Prairie commu-nity members. This celebration had been canceled in 2020 by the onset of the COVID pandemic.
The dinner was held at the High Prairie Community Center on Satur-day, April 22. The Community Center and all the tables were beautifully decorated. A slide show played in the background, with photographs of Fire District 14 members and events over the years. An excellent lasagna dinner, catered by Beniventi’s, was served to the enjoyment of all. It was topped off by a self-serve (and non-judgmental) dessert buffet. It was delightful! In all, 75 dinners were served. Thank you to all those involved in organizing, decorating and preparing the meal in appreciation of High Prairie Fire’s volunteers.
Acknowledgments of service were presented at the conclusion of the dinner. (Photos on the right.) Chief Hancock used this opportunity to introduce herself to the attending members of the community. She presented each Fire District volunteer to the community members in at-tendance with her very personal commentary on each one. Fire Com-missioner and Fire Captain Philip Haner presented Chief Tim Darland with a handsome fire department plaque honoring and highlighting his almost 8 years of dedicated service as KCFPD #14’s Fire Chief. KCFD #14s Firefighter ot the Year Award went to Ron McDonald; Brenda Edin & Chris Roper were selected together as KCFPD #14’s Rookies of the Year; James Day was presented KCFPD #14’s Humanitarian Award for service to members of the community; Tom McMackin received KCFPD #14’s Fire Officer of the Year Award; and Dave Thom was cho-sen for the KCFPD #14 Mentor of the Year Award. New department T-shirts and an honor challenge coin memento were also issued to each firefighter in attendance. Administrative Assistant Glenna Scott was unable to attend, but will be acknowledged for her service to the department at the next Fire Commissioners Meeting on May 16, 2023.
All three High Prairie Fire Commissioners were in attendance: An-thony Perry, Philip Haner, and James Amery. Other guests included Lyle Fire Commissioner Kris Joy, Lyle Firefighter Elisha Neipp, and Lyle EMT Glenda Lovejoy. And, last but not least, there was a sizable crowd of community members, friends, and family members — the Fire District’s most important supporters.
As a special treat at the end of the evening, HPCC President Sharon Aleckson announced that the HPCC has been awarded a $248,000 grant to improve our community center for emergency shel-ter purposes. These improvements will include a permanent generator, an improved kitchen, air conditioning, and an extractor to clean our structure turnouts. Read more about the grant on page 1.
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First image: from L to R: Philip Haner, Tom McMackin, Brenda Edin, Ron McDonald,, Chief Sarah Hancock, James Day, Chris Roper, Tim Darland, Samuel holman, James Amery.
