In an effort to help make work life a little easier while on duty for the remaining East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Firefighters, Brentwood residents have launched a meal train to provide home cooked meals at Station 52.
The effort was launched by Brentwood resident Christina Bell after she noticed the increased call volume on the remaining stations after the closure of the Downtown Station (54) and Knightsen (94). Station 52 picked up some of those calls they rarely had to run before.
“If you are running more calls, I figure you have less time to cook a good healthy meal,” said Bell. “I know when my husband, who is a police officer, works extra he tends to eat unhealthy food or get whatever he can grab at a convenience store before moving onto his next call. So I assume that is what they are doing.”
According to Bell, the number of calls they run do not leave a lot of time for cooking. She put out the idea on social media and within a few hours, the entire month of August was filled up with residents volunteering to provide dinner to firefighters.
“I put it up on Facebook and it was shared at least a 100 times and posted in different groups. It filled up in 5-hours and a wait list was created to deliver more meals,” explained Bell. “People from other communities have chimed in asking questions because they are now thinking of doing something for their local fire houses.”
Bell said that with the community stepping up, she opened up September and this could be an annual event during peak fire season to provide meals to firefighters.
Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor applauded the community for stepping up.
“The community cares about its firefighters with this effort, this is an amazing show of gratitude and thank you for the effort of few for the benefit of many,” said Taylor.
Fire Chief Hugh Henderson was appreciative of the effort.
“I think this act of kindness shows our firefighters how much the community cares for the service they provide. This will help improve morale as our firefighters continue to pick up an additional 40% of the workload with the two fire stations closed,” said Henderson. “On a daily basis our firefighters go above and beyond to continue to provide service and now will be able to return to the station for a nice meal.”
Bell highlighted that she chose Station 52 in Brentwood because it’s her local fire station and hopes that someone will see what she is doing in Brentwood and do something similar in Oakley or Discovery Bay.
“No matter how you stand on the issue of a tax to supplement the district, I think everyone supports the firefighters. You can make them a meal from the heart, something nice, something they will appreciate and having 31-fmailies come into their house saying hey we made you this for you and were thinking about you. I think that can’t be anything but a positive on their day,” said Bell.
Station 52 Meal Train Sign up
https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/0z4d39
