Our speaker today was Phil Zaleski from the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance.  The Alliance, though not well known has had a major impact on Illinois.  Chief among them, they were instrumental in passing the legislation mandating smoke detectors in all buildings.  Their daily focus is to raise awareness of and education about fire safety.  They have pamphlets, classes, camps and conferences for people of all ages addressing any possible topic. 
 
 
Today we finalized the attendee list for the District’s Fall Seminar.  Jen and Joe will be attending the ABC’s of Rotary.  Brian and Alex will attend the Grant Management Seminar.  Conrad and Marisol will have training on the duties of President and Secretary respectively.  Rodney will be doing District Governor-Elect type things and Wendy will be making sure everyone else is where they are supposed to be!  It should be fun and educational day.
 
Our speaker today was Phil Zaleski from the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance.  The Alliance, though not well known has had a major impact on Illinois.  Chief among them, they were instrumental in passing the legislation mandating smoke detectors in all buildings.  Their daily focus is to raise awareness of and education about fire safety.  They have pamphlets, classes, camps and conferences for people of all ages addressing any possible topic. 
 
They work with 160 hospitals in the state to provide new mothers bath buddy thermometers which helps prevent the unintentional scalding if newborns.  Get Fired Up About Fire is a school presentation designed for pre-K through 6 years old.  They have established a statewide reporting system through their Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention program.  The system is designed to identify and catalog incidents where children accidentally start fires. 
 
The Alliance also focuses on survivor services.  Camp I Am Me is a week-long camp held each June.  Open to kids 8-16 years old, it is run by over 65 volunteers. It’s a great opportunity for the kids to see and understand that they are not alone in being a burn victim.  Each attendee gets a chance to talk with counselors and other fire survivors.  They also get to ride horses, play games and goof off too.  The Alliance hosts a Young Adult Summit for those 18-25 years old.  And they also offer scholarships to the World Burn Congress each year.
 
Perhaps most important, the Alliance’s Journey Back program works with schools – both faculty and students – to educate them when one of their classmates is about to return to school after being burned.  These kids often spend several months in the hospital and when they come home, there’s a new normal that they have to deal with.  This program gives teachers the tools necessary to make that integration easier and helps the other students that although the person may look different, he or she is still the same person.