In July,  Bob Haines will be part of a team that will take 3 couples including one from Fort Carson to summit Mt Elbrus in Russia. This will be an incredible experience, but finiacial assistance is needed to make the trip a success! To help offset the cost, every Wednesday in the Month of May, Buffalo Wild Wings will be donating 10% of their profits to their trip if you mention the fundraiser when eating at any of the Colorado Springs Buffalo Wild Wings locations.  If you would like more information on the trip itself, please visit: http://www.woundedwarriorascents.org/home

Don't Forget!  This next week, Wed April 25th starting at 6pm - the Cary Sloan silent auction and benefit concert will be held at Jack Quinns!  Bruce Longton's band 5 Alarm will be playing throughout the night and their will be a ton of great silent auction items available!  So come on down to Jack Quinns to have a great time with your fellow members and at the same time help out one of our own! For more information and to see the list of silent auction items visit: www.csfdhockey.com

The Annual Gator Hockey Tournament is back and promises to be better than ever.   The tournament will be April 28th and 29th, 2012 at Honnen Arena on the Colorado College campus.  The White and Black CSFD teams will face off against teams from the Colorado Springs Police Department and others. Games will be played at times to be determined on Saturday and Sunday.  Admission to the tournament is free. This year, the tournament is being played in honor of retired CSFD Driver/Engineer Cary Sloan, who was recently diagnosed with ALS.  In support of Cary, CSFD Hockey will be holding a silent auction on April 25th at Jack Quinn's (21 S. Tejon Street) starting at 6pm. If you have any questions or need more information, please visit the website at www.csfdhockey.com

At the 2012 MDA Boot Camp attended by Rudy, Justin Koch and Chris Weaver, the Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Association was honored as MDA bestowed upon them the Richard Mark Dedication Award!  For the tireless work done by Local 5 and their membership to overcome the obstacles surrounding Fill the Boot in 2011, the Brothers from Pueblo Local #3 presented Local #5 with the award at the MDA Banquet.  Thanks to everyone that dedicated their time and effort to continue to strive to find a cure!

The Month long Rockbottom "Fire Chief Ale" fundraiser came to a close last night with finish of the silent auction, and the home-made salsa competition!  Thank you to all of the members that stepped up to volunteer their time at the beer tapping, march madness night and Family day at Rockbottom! Also a big thank you to the CSFD Explorers for their hekp on Family Day and also for those that came down to support the cause by drinking some Fire Chief Ale all month long!  All proceeds from this event will be added to the Local 5 Fill the Boot totals for 2012!  Thanks to everyone for your help!

This past week, one of our own, Cary Sloan retired from the CSFD.  His party was held at Station 13 and was presented with a retirement placque from his friends and co-workers. Thank you for your service Cary!

The annual Fire Chief Ale kicks off this week on Tuesday at 6pm at the Rockbottom Brewery on Powers blvd!  Come on down and join your Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters, MDA and Rockbottom for a night of bagpipers, beer, silent auctions, see the firetruck, our 9 ft tall inflatable fire boot and so much more!  A percentage of every Fire Chief Ale purchased through the month of March is donated by Rockbottom to Local 5 for our Fill the Campaign to benefit MDA. Local 5 will also have firefighters at Rockbottom on March 13th for March madness night, March 24th for family day at Rockbottom and then will finish up on March 27th for a salsa competition.  For more information contact Rudy at 719-761-5969.

The Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Local#5 was proud to present member Mark Sperry with the honor of being the 2011 IAFF Local #5 Firefighter of the Year at the CSFD Awards Banquet on February 17th 2011.   We would like to thnak Mark for his dedication as a member of Local 5 and his undying support in many different ways.  CONGRATS to Mark Sperry - 2011 Firefighter of the Year!

In January, your 2012 Executive Board will be doing it's annual planning for the year.  We will be taking the time to evaluate our goals and objectives for the next 12 months.  If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions, please give feel free to contact any members of the Local 5 Executive Board.

Thank you to all who voted and participated in electing your 2012 Executive Board.  Please head to the Officers and Staff heading under member resources to view your 2012 Representatives and their contact information.