Edra Bonsall has more than one connection to the firefighting community. As a respiratory therapist, she works with longtime Widows & Orphans volunteer Stina del Giudice. And her son Christian attends the fire program at Santa Ana College.
Edra said, “I wanted to learn all aspects of the fire community.” So, when Stina told her about Widows & Orphans, she immediately signed up to help. During her first year with the charity, she served as a volunteer at Hope for Firefighters and the LAFD Invitational golf tournament, two of the organization’s largest annual fundraisers.
One of her favorite memories is helping at the silent auction that follows the golf tournament. “Watching all the different stations ribbing each other over their bids and the general sense of fun was wonderful to experience,” she said.
And that moment illustrates what she loves best about assisting the charity. She said, “Firefighters have a sense of one large family and everyone looks out for the others in his or her community.”
But it’s not just the firefighter community that she loves. The people who help put on the events make the effort fun. “All of the volunteers are wonderful and so friendly!” she said.
To those thinking about contributing his or her time to Widows & Orphans, Edra explains that it’s a truly worthy cause. She said, “These people that risk their lives to help others and [the possibility] that they may die or be disabled performing their jobs while trying to save people, homes and businesses are worth our efforts to help them in their time of need.”
If you’d like to volunteer and experience the sense of community Edra enjoys, please sign up online at wodff.org/volunteer.
By David Vienna