First Local 1159/ GMR Cornhole Tournament Scheduled
Clackamas County Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 1159, along with Global Mission Readiness, will be holding a cornhole fundraising tournament at Portland Cider Company on Saturday, November 17th. Funds raised go toward L1159 community fund and GMR international firefighter training.
This is an exciting opportunity for both organizations to raise money to help others. The Local 1159 community fund helps in the local area with scholarships, aid, and other community-related efforts. GMR provides free emergency response training to those less fortunate living in developing nations and poverty-stricken areas of the world. These developing nations are grossly underfunded and generally, lack government support.
The corn hole tournament is open to spectators from the public but is full for registration, and is a kid-friendly event. Prizes will be given to first, second, and third place finishers of the tournament. There is also raffle drawings with various prizes that anyone can participate in.
Besides being a lieutenant with Clackamas Fire, Pat DeLair also has volunteered for the nonprofit Global Mission Readiness for eight years. GMR is a charitable organization that was founded by a group of Clackamas firefighters dedicated to providing emergency services education, training and resources to developing nations, and to promote disaster prevention and self-reliance. To date, GMR has trained thousands of first responders in the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, Central Europe and Southeast Asia.
When you love something, sometimes you got to set it free. It has been an incredible run, but after much planning and deliberation, I will be stepping down as CEO of Global Mission Readiness, effective December 31st, 2017. Vice President and Operations Director, Patrick DeLair will assume the leadership of GMR when he is sworn in as the new CEO that day. Pat has been shadowing me over the last year and possesses the same buy-in and vision for our great organization. To our many partners around the world: Please allow patience as he learns his new position and welcome him with open arms. Pat has some great new ideas and goals, but will also continue fostering the same relationships with all of you. I am incredibly excited to see where he takes GMR in the future.
A first for Global Mission Readiness, Hazardous Materials training will begin in El Rosal, Cundinamarca, Columbia on 26-28 October, 2017. “Volunteers teaching Volunteers” is the theme of this and the majority of our projects as GMR Volunteers from Portland Fire, Gresham Fire and Clackamas Fire will be teaching the basics of hazardous materials response during emergencies. GMR has had multiple training projects in Colombia before and look forward to continuing the relationships that have been established as well as expand the curriculum into HazMat.