Message from leadership
Dear Supporters
Through emergencies, fires and natural disasters, first responders are always there for us in our time of need. Helping their families is our way of being there for them in their time of need. Through your generosity over the last two decades, FRCF has supported the children of first responders—and their families—to honor the service and sacrifice of their parents. In 2022, we were able to help more than 130,000 first responder children through our programs and community activation events.
With an ever-growing set of needs unique to first responder children and families, we are constantly striving for new ways to support the community. The last few years have made us realize we were just scratching the surface of those needs—and it has galvanized our sense of purpose and dedication to help. Last year marked a major expansion of our efforts and confirmed that our mission is as enduring and relevant as ever.
Transformative growth, transformational impact
In 2022 we introduced new programs, new partners, new people and new places—a culmination of transformative growth for our Foundation over the past three years that is powering transformational impact.
We launched two new programs last year. Responding to the unprecedented need for mental health and wellness support for the children of first responders, we created our Resiliency program to provide 24/7 access to free, confidential mental health counseling by licensed professionals who specialize in culturally competent, trauma-informed care. When Hurricane Ian struck Florida last year, we created our Natural Disaster Response grant to support the specific needs of first responder families impacted. We expanded our flagship Scholarship program to include a Scholars Council, providing access to peer-to-peer support, career readiness and leadership mentoring. We also increased emergency assistance to hundreds of families with our Bereavement and Emergency Hardships program grants. And we expanded our Community Engagement initiatives, including the addition of youth development programs to further build bonds between children and first responders in the communities they serve. We added more than a half dozen new partners to extend our reach and bolstered our donor efforts. A transformative gift from MacKenzie Scott has enabled us to build out staff infrastructure including appointing a talented senior leadership team—to meet the rapidly expanding needs of first responder children and families. As a result of all these efforts, we have been able to further expand our nationwide footprint.
The future of our mission
As we look to the future, there are more opportunities than ever to make a lasting impact: reach every first responder family nationwide, build awareness of our mission through communities where first responders serve, forge lasting partnerships that grow and extend our impact and integrate the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion into the fabric and culture of our organization.
We are filled with gratitude and a sense of purpose. Gratitude for your support and sense of purpose fueled by the impact our programs have on a community whose sole purpose is to help others. Every board member, senior leader and staff member has a deep conviction for our mission: honoring the service of first responder parents by helping first responder children and their families heal, grow and thrive. Please join us.
With deepest thanks,
Jillian Crane
President and CEO
Al Kahn
Founder and Chairman
2022 In Review
