VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS BURN CENTER FUND

In 1986, the Board of Directors of the Stony Brook Foundation designated the Volunteer Firefighters Burn Center Fund an official support group of the Foundation. In an effort to support the best possible burn care service for the residents of Suffolk County, the Fund provides financial assistance to meet the special needs of the Burn Center.

All contributions to the Fund are restricted to the express purpose of furthering the care and treatment of burn patients. In its first decade, the Fund raised nearly $400,000 through a variety of fund-raising events as well as donations from local fire departments, individuals, businesses and service organizations.

The support group is made up of representatives from Suffolk's 110 volunteer fire departments, as well as members of the Burn Center staff and community leaders with a special interest in supporting the mission of the Burn Center.

Each fire department is invited to appoint a designee to the Fund's Advisory Board, which meets once a year for an update on the progress of both the Fund and the Burn Center.

WHEREAS: the County of Suffolk is proud to recognize and pay well-deserved tribute to those outstanding organizations which have rendered significant contributions for the enhancement of our region and the betterment of our residents; and

WHEREAS: on the fifth day of March, nineteen hundred and ninety-five, the Volunteer Firefighters Burn Center Fund will celebrate the auspicious occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Burn Center; and

WHEREAS: the Administration and the staff of the Burn Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook deserve the ultimate recognition for their professional commitment and dedication to those individuals whose lives have been in imminent danger due to the seriousness of burns and scalds;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert J. Gaffney, as County Executive of the County of Suffolk, on behalf of the 1.4 million residents of the County of Suffolk, do hereby proclaim the fifth day of March, nineteen hundred and ninety-five as BURN CENTER DAY in Suffolk County and I extend my personal gratitude for all that you have achieved for the residents of our region.

The Steering Committee which manages the Fund is made up of 23 members of the support group. It meets monthly in order to review the requests presented by the Burn Center staff and to plan fund-raising events, and it monitors expenditures from the Fund's account in the Stony Brook Foundation (the not-for-profit corporation that houses cash gifts on behalf of the University).

In effect, the committee serves as the board of trustees of the Fund. No monies can be spent without the prior approval of the Steering Committee.

For more information about the Volunteer Firefighters Burn Center Fund and its activities, please call 631-444-2270.