Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company Has An Eye on The Future

Peter Tyc, Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company Chief announced that the Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company has worked with the Community Foundation of Middlesex County to create a tax deductible endowment to provide a way for community members to support the MVFC and ensure the company is able to supplement its town funding for years to come.

Middlefield’s Volunteer Fire Company (MVFC) has a long history of service, back to 1934, when a group, concerned with fire protection, established the company. “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” has become a tradition for some families, as many generations join the company to help the town where they live, work, and play. These loyal men and women join forces to keep Middlefield safe.

Deputy Chief William Konefal explained that gifts to the Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company Endowment Fund are not spent, but are invested. This way, the interest and earnings from gifts will support the Volunteer Fire Company for years to come. The distributions from the Fund willl be made to supplement the present funding from the Town in order to assist the Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company - protecting the lives and property of the citizens and businesses of Middlefield and Rockfall from loss or destruction by fire or other emergency such as medical response, water rescue, trail (off-road) rescue, animal rescue, and hazardous material response and future needs. The grants are not to be used in place of funding from the Town of Middlefield. As an example of the benefit of an endowment, Konefal explained that the MVFC was able to purchase a Lucas Chest Compression Device this year with donated funds. The ability to create a fund to accept donations and to use the income generated by the endowment to purchase new life saving tools is great for the community and exciting to our members. Konefal also explained that, by having the endowment funds professionally managed by an independent non-profit agency will ensure that the funds are not subject to local budget pressures.

The MVFC has created a special committee of MVFC members that has been tasked with identifying additional needs. The committee will then make requests to the Community Foundation for distributions from the earnings of the endowment fund. According to Konefal, this procedure makes sure that the funds are used only for the limited purpose of obtaining special equipment or training that is outside the town budget.

Tyc and Konefal thanked Cynthia Clegg, Director of the Community Foundation of Middlesex County and the staff at the Community Foundation for their assistance and support in getting the endowment started. Tyc also thanked Middlefield attorneys John Corona and Ed Lang for introducing MVFC to the Community Foundation and for their help in preparing the fund documents.