How can you participate?

Here are some ideas, ranging from the time it takes to write out a membership check to volunteering whatever time you can make available to support the project. You can participate in a committee on a regular basis, a special work session or nominate someone to the Board of Directors.

1. Museum Membership

2. The Memorial Paver Brick Program

3. Join a Committee:
- Volunteer Committee
- Volunteer Committee Agents at Large
- On-Call Volunteer Committee
- Memorial Committee

4. Volunteer your Professional Expertise (legal, marketing, accounting etc)

5. Nominate someone to the Board of Directors

6. Nominate someone to the Honorary Board of Directors

Membership is easy - just fill out the application form and return it along with your donation to the office address in Long Branch. You will receive a certificate and membership card. Your membership demonstrates "grass roots" support.

The Memorial Paver Brick Program provides an opportunity to buy as many bricks as you desire. Prices are posted for individual, family, department and other categories but the bricks are of a standard size. You can enter one, two or three lines of text and choose a color as described on the order form.
The Volunteer Committee opportunities are growing. Right now we have a single Volunteer Committee that is focused on promoting the museum at the grass roots level by manning display tables and tent at fire-related events. The Volunteer Committee meets on a regular basis at a Monmouth County area fire station.

The Volunteer Committee Agents at Large provides for a representative to carry our message to meetings in a district not adjacent to Monmouth/Ocean Counties. At this time we have an Agent at Large in Atlantic County and Morris County and we invite others.

We are expanding the Volunteer Committee to include two sections since not everyone has the time to travel and attend regularly scheduled meetings in Long Branch.

For interested persons who cannot attend regularly scheduled meetings, we are establishing the On-Call Volunteer Committee. Members of the "On-Call Volunteer Committee" will be notified in advance of special work sessions so they can choose to participate if they are available. To remain a member in good standing of the On Call Committee we ask for participation in at least 4 events annually, be they regular meetings of the Volunteer Committee or a special work sessions typically held on a weekend.
Taskings for the Volunteer Committee currently include updating the museum collection database including photographs; researching better mailing addresses for fire companies and fire departments; managing the effort to swap department patches to build a collection for display at the museum; The volunteer committee organized and operated the first ever Family Fire Safety Muster at Allaire Park in October 2003.

There is also an opportunity for Volunteer Committee "hands-on" work as we have restored two recently donated hand-drawn apparatus for display at Sandy Hook. We are preparing to establish a larger presence at Sandy Hook during 2005. We are also working to maintain a schedule of preventive maintenance for the current museum apparatus collection.

As the project progresses and we move into our own structure, tasks for the Volunteer Committee will increase and we will establish smaller teams to address specific tasks.

The Memorial Committee will work out the details of the memorial design, the final dimensions and layout of the memorial plaza. Also, creating a database to record information we will solicit from each municipality to gather data for the Fallen Firefighters Wall of Honor and the information needed to administer the personalized paver bricks project.

You can volunteer your Professional Expertise. We could use specific administrative, legal and technical skills such as lawyer, public relations manager, accountant, draftsman, artist, technical writer, data entry, historian, etc. If you have a skill that you are willing to offer on a part-time basis contact us. We can accommodate participation on a time-available basis or as part of a Volunteer Committee. We appreciate your contribution to whatever extent is mutually convenient.

You can nominate someone to the Board of Directors: We welcome individuals committed to the mission of the project who are willing to meet on a regular basis and work as part of a team effort to further the project. Professional backgrounds are not a prerequisite. Current board members include persons from Finance, Construction, Utility or Municipal management, Product Managers and independent business owners. The key attribute of a Board of Directors is the commitment to meet regularly, to take a tasking from the meeting and pursue it independently and enthusiastically.
You can nominate someone to the Honorary Board of Directors. This is the most exclusive group associated with our project. It is comprised of persons with demonstrated leadership in government, business, academia, industry and the fire service. The Honorary Board represents the project at senior levels of state leadership, make substantial contributions or leverage their influence on others to do so.

If you would like to nominate someone to either Board of Directors, please contact Don Mulligan or Irven Miller at the museum administrative address.