The Glen Echo Fire Department is embarking on a transformational $20 million effort to replace its aging station with a modern, safe, and resilient 33,000-square-foot First Responder Campus built to serve our community for generations.
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How to Donate
Please click the donation button, and you will be taken to a secure page to enter your credit card information.
You will have an opportunity to print a receipt, and you will also receive an email confirmation of your donation.
Your credit card number is neither revealed to nor stored at Glen Echo Fire Department.
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Why Donating to Your Local Volunteer Fire Department is So Important
Many residents are surprised to learn Montgomery County has a “combination” fire, rescue and EMS system, meaning that it has both volunteer and paid firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics. The combination system provides significant benefits to our residents, the most important of which is a large contingency of well-trained and dedicated volunteers who staff county emergency apparatus on a daily basis.
While Montgomery County recognizes the many benefits of volunteer fire-rescue and EMS services, it provides only a portion of the financial support needed for Glen Echo Fire Department’s operations. Like all of the local fire departments, Glen Echo’s ability to continue operations remain dependent on community donations and grants from Glen Echo and Bethesda residents and businesses. The direct community support not only covers a significant part of our operating expenses (vehicle and equipment acquisition and repair, training, gear, uniforms, and more), it also ensures we retain a direct connection to the community.
Here are some interesting facts about volunteers in Montgomery County as of the date of this article:
- Montgomery County has 19 independent, volunteer local fire rescue departments, all of which operate under the umbrella of the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service.
- Montgomery County’s combination system of volunteer and career personnel is nationally recognized for its high standards and quality of service.
- Nearly 1200 of the county’s 2400 fire-ems responders are volunteers.
- In 2019 alone, the dedicated volunteers at Glen Echo Fire Department provided tens of thousands of hours of service responding to emergency calls, training, and otherwise serving their communities in their roles as firefighters, EMTs, and medics, and trainees. For nearly a century, the department’s members have provided their services.
- Our volunteers undergo the same rigorous training and certification processes as their paid colleagues.
- Volunteers fill every rank in the County’s fire-ems system from trainee to certified chief officers who take command of incidents ranging from auto accidents to multi-alarm fires.
- Most of the County’s fire stations are staffed by a combination of career and volunteer personnel.
- Units responding to 911 calls may be exclusively paid or volunteer personnel, or some combination of paid and volunteer.
- Many of our County’s career personnel were once volunteers who were hired as career personnel.
- Many of Montgomery County’s career personnel are so dedicated to their jobs they continue to volunteer in their home jurisdictions.
- Montgomery County’s 19 volunteer local fire-rescue departments own most of the County’s fire stations.
Other ways for you to contribute to Glen Echo Fire Department:
Checks
Please mail your donation to:
Glen Echo Fire Department
PO Box 734
Glen Echo, MD 20812
Please do not hand checks to firehouse personnel.
Buy a Mattress
Replace your old, worn-out mattress with a brand new one from our friends at The Mattress Connection and support Glen Echo Fire Department! Please see our online flyer.
Donate Used Clothing and Shoes
Donate used clothes or shoes in the bins at the firehouse, at Westbard Shopping Center, or Glen Echo Shopping Center and help support GEFD!
If you have donated clothing at one of our collection bins and would like a receipt, you can download one here: Clothing Donation Receipt Form. For assistance determining the appropriate value of donated items, you may find it useful to consult the Goodwill Valuation Guide for Donors.
Other Mechanisms
Combined Federal Campaign
Federal employees and retirees: Please consider listing the Glen Echo Fire Department as a recipient for your donation to the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). Our campaign number (16733) will appear on banners that will be hung on the station — a constant reminder as you drive past the station on Massachusetts Avenue and Sangamore.
Appreciated Securities
A popular alternative to a cash donation is a gift of appreciated securities. Generally, in addition to receiving an income-tax deduction for the full, fair market value of the stock, the donor avoids any potential tax on the capital gain of the securities assuming the appropriate holding period has been satisfied.
Charitable Bequests
Charitable bequests can allow donors to make significant contributions to the Department that they would not have been able to make during life, with the added bonus of reducing estate tax liability. Bequests by will may provide the Department with a specific dollar amount or property, a percentage of the estate, a residual amount, or a contingency bequest.
Please speak to your personal Estate Planner about adding the Glen Echo Fire Department to your legacy giving.
Also …
Charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, gifts of real estate with or without retained life interests, or life insurance can also be an attractive and suitable means of donating to Glen Echo Fire Department. We also accept used vehicle donations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How We Solicit Funds
Glen Echo Fire Department does not:
- Solicit funds over the telephone
- Solicit funds door-to-door
- Hand-deliver brochures to residents’ front doors
- Pick up checks at residents’ homes as a follow-up to telephone solicitations
If you receive a solicitation in one of the above-listed forms that references Glen Echo Fire Department, it is imperative that you contact us immediately and provide as much information as possible.
How We Use Donations
Funds donated by the community have allowed us to operate our ambulance with “medic” status (enabling our paramedics to administer drugs and to treat heart attack and stroke patients), purchase uniforms for our members, maintain our firehouse, pay our office staff, stock our kitchen pantry, buy office furniture, install landscaping upgrades, repair our engine and other vehicles, and purchase vehicles for our members and command personnel to use while attending training or performing their duties.
About Our Mailing Lists
Our mailings are usually distributed to every address on the various US Postal Service carrier routes in our service area. It’s far more cost effective for us to send mail this way than to attempt to remove the addresses of the handful of residents who might not wish to receive our correspondence. Most people tell us that they enjoy hearing from public safety providers and that we strike just about the right balance in terms of the frequency of our outreach.
Tax Deductions
Donations to Glen Echo Fire Department are tax-deductible under §170(c)(1) of the the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions that must be directed to a §501(c)(3) entity may be made to the Glen Echo Fire Department Foundation.
Glen Echo Fire Department Foundation
The Glen Echo Fire Department Foundation was created in 2012 to facilitate receipt of financial gifts that can only be made to a 501(c)3 entity. The Foundation is administered entirely by volunteers from the community and has no salary expenses, so a very high percentage of each dollar raised goes directly to fulfilling the Foundation’s mission. IRS EIN 45-3515103.
Questions?
If you have questions about donations, please send us a message on the contact us page of our website.