wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Fire-fighting 'hunks' helping hospice

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Note #8075 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Fire-fighting 'hunks' helping hospice
04027
January 16, 2004

Fire-fighting 'hunks' helping hospice

Rosalie Potter memorialized with fund-raising calendar

by Julie Sherwood
The Canandaigua  (NY) Daily Messenger
Reprinted with permission

Editor's note: The Rev. Rosalie Potter, who served as the Presbyterian Church
(USA)'s associate director for evangelism and church development from
1996-2002, died July 12, 2003, of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). She was
obviously as loved in Naples, NY, as she was throughout the PC(USA). - Jerry
L. Van Marter

NAPLES, NY - It started as a joke. Somebody gave Rosalie Potter a 2003 New
York City firefighters' calendar, featuring its glossy photos of the
muscle-bound fire fighting hunks of the FDNY.

	It didn't stay long in her room at Hospeace House, a hospice in
Naples where Rosalie Potter spent the last few months of her life.

	"It was a running joke with the calendar," said Rosalie Potter's son,
Bob Potter. "It ended up in the kitchen," he said, where visitors, volunteers
and staff shared his mother's delight with it.

	Now the beefcakes of New York have been upstaged by another crew:
members of the Maxfield Hose Company - Naples' Volunteer Fire and Ambulance
Department.

	Before she died, Rosalie suggested that Hospeace House raise money
with its own calendar featuring the Naples firefighters, said Tom Hawks II,
president of Hospeace House. And after the members of the Maxfield Hose Co.
visited Rosalie Potter at Hospeace House on Memorial Day - including
shirtless firefighter Nate Moore, it seemed natural to give it a try, he
said.

	"I know why the FDNY does it," said Naples Fire Chief Patrick Elwell.
"It sounded like a good project."

	While the FDNY uses proceeds from its annual calendar to raise money
for a  fire-safety education program, sales of the Naples calendar will help
fund the operation of the four-bed hospice home in Naples.

	"That's got to be good for everybody," said Ambulance Captain Linda
Almekinder. Hospeace House and the Maxfield Hose Co. both rely on volunteers,
she said - and with the publicity the calendar is generating, both
organizations will benefit.

	Meanwhile, a slew of Naples firefighters are enjoying a brush with
fame.

	Rollie Hall, "Mr. October," said he has been signing autographs for
weeks.

	"They've been picking on me," joked Hall, 33, who works at Bob &
Irv's Shursave in Naples.

	"We had a lot of fun with it," said Elwell, adding that it wasn't
hard to find volunteers to model for the calendar. They weren't required to
go shirtless for the photos, he said, though most of the guys liked the idea.

	"They had their choices. A lot of the firemen chose to go topless,"
said Elwell, who appears in uniform in a couple group photos - because the
company thought its chief should keep all his clothes on, he joked.

	Bob Brozic, a free-lance photographer who took the photos, said
shooting it was a refreshing change from his usual static subjects, such as
landscapes.

	"It was a great challenge for me," said Brozic, who said he liked
reacting with the guys - and gals. (Firefighter Chelsea Marshall poses for
the cover and December.)

	While there aren't any definite plans to make the calendar an annual
event, those involved are toying with the idea.

	Firefighter Nate Smith, a house builder, said he'd be game.

	"They call me 'Mr. April' now," said Smith, 20, a firefighter of two
years.

	"It was fun," said Adam Tripp, 22, a mechanic.

	In a small town, Tripp said, word gets out fast when you bare your
chest, so to speak.

	"The customers have had a field day with it," said Tripp, who works
at Dave's Automotive in Naples.

	Tripp said that when he gets harassed he just smiles and says: "I am
sure all the women will leave their calendars on September year round."

	To order the 2004 Naples Emergency Services calendar - $10 each with
all proceeds going to Hospeace House - call Tom Hawks at 585-704-7210

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