Supporting our First Responders
OneGoat Foundation is an organization that provides financial support for first responders and first responder organizations. We award financial gifts to first responders both active and retired. OneGoat recognizes first responders as our public servants associated with Police, Fire, EMS and Dispatch personnel.
We award financial support in four key areas: direct financial support; access to mental health and wellness resources; funeral services; and travel expenses in pursuit of recovery.
So why OneGoat?
First responders put societal safety above their own. They are the first to respond to an emergency and many owe our lives, the lives of loved ones, or our treasured homes to them. Doing this everyday makes them a hero, or in our opinion, The Greatest Of All Time in humanity.
It started with a story of a first responder. One who could have been our brother, our cousin, our daughter, or father. But in this case, a Colorado paramedic was snowmobiling with some friends when an avalanche was triggered, trapping his best friend’s son in the slide. He did as all first responders would do—as the others turned away, he rode into the avalanche to save his friend’s son. Sadly, both the Colorado paramedic and his friend’s son, perished. The Colorado first responder left behind a wife and 12 year old twins. The Battalion Chief and a close friend in his unit went to his house to tell his high school sweetheart, and now wife, that he had died. Her first question was, “How are we ever going to make it?” And his twins looked up with the same question in their eyes.
First responders are the first to respond to an emergency. This was no different than any other emergency. And because of this first responder’s death and the family he left behind, his department pulled together a charity golf tournament which raised more than $50,000 to support the family.
Unfortunately this story is not unique. There are many first responder families who have lost loved ones, or are managing a new life challenges both physical and financial due to debilitating injuries.
Why first responders need our support:
- Even minor injuries can disrupt first responders’ lives because they can only work when they’re 100% healthy.
- Their workman’s compensation can be delayed significantly depending on the nature of the injury.
- Physical/mental therapy is costly, usually delayed, and often isn’t even covered.
- First responders are more susceptible to cancers, physical injuries, and mental health challenges.
It’s time they get the needed help they deserve. There is so much to do to help first responders and their families, and that is the OneGoat’s purpose.
Our promise is to provide first responders with the critical gap funding when they need it most.
OneGoat practices no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, citizenship, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, political ideology, ancestry, the presence of any physical, sensory, or mental disabilities, or other legally protected status in any of its practices. We understand that by accepting one another’s backgrounds and experiences we become stronger together.
