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First responder
support
After personally witnessing
the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, brothers and
ex-firefighters Robin and Chris
Sorensen (above, left to right),
discovered how a disaster
could destroy first responder
equipment that was essential
to saving lives.
So, in 2005, the
founders of the Firehouse
Subs restaurants started a
foundation: Firehouse Subs
Public Safety Foundation
( firehousesubsfoundation.org).
The foundation supports first
responders, whether they are
contending with a disaster or
just struggling to afford equip-
ment. Robin says, “It became
clear that first responder
entities across the nation
simply lacked the funding for
equipment to do their jobs.”
The brothers receive
thousands of requests
for basic tools, including
automated external defibrilla-
tors (AEDs). “AEDs are a
common request and what
we award the most,” Robin
adds. “For example, police
officers often arrive on the
scene first. Having an AED
in the police cruiser allows
officers to attend to victims of
cardiac arrest immediately.”
Since its beginning,
their foundation has granted
more than $37 million to
hometown heroes.
No place like home
Gilbert, Arizona, has one of the
highest median household incomes in
the U.S. It’s also a city where, despite great
wealth, there is great need, with a large
homeless population.
Randy Dix and his daughter, Janine
Igliane, the owners of a successful real
estate company, know that all too well, as
two of their own family members have
relied on public services to get back on
their feet.
In 2013, the two started a food drive
in Gilbert’s Power Ranch community, a
subdivision of more than 4,000 houses—
many of which they had helped clients
buy or sell.
Every November, Dix and Igliane drop
off an empty grocery sack at each home
and ask the families to fill it with nonperishable food donations. Participants then
leave the filled grocery sack by their
garage door and the two pick it up. “We
drive every street in Power Ranch, picking
up the grocery sacks full of food,” says Dix.
The food is then delivered to House of
Refuge ( houseofrefuge.org), a nonprofit
that provides housing for families with
children that are struggling to get by.
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