Thanks to the Premier Magazine for America's Municipalities

http://www.themunicipal.com/

The 9-11 Patch Project is honored to announce "The Municipal" has become our latest $911 Sponsor! The Municipal Magazine is sent out to 25,000 City Department Heads in 18 States, 12 times a year. Companies with products/services can get their message directly out to folks in specific city departments who have the purchasing power. The Municipal will also be sending out an announcement about the 9-11 Patch Project in 2 monthly magazines. Getting the project out in front of City Fire, EMS & Police is what the project has worked on the past 13 years- this partnership with The Municipal will help make that happen! We thank The Municipal for stepping up to sponsor and partner with us...they are another organization that gives back and you should all be aware of that!

ABOUT THE MUNICIPAL: The Municipal magazine was started in 2011 as the premier monthly magazine for America’s municipalities. We are a free publication that is direct mailed to 25,000 city managers, street/highway departments, parks and recreation managers, utility/public works supervisors, transportation / fleet professionals and fire/rescue / police chiefs in 18 states – Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Our goal every month is to inform municipalities of the choices available to make effective purchasing decisions.

The Municipal magazine is owned by The Papers Inc in Milford, Indiana. Twenty five weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines are published under our corporate name.

Have a product or service you would like to get in front of those who have the purchasing power? Contact The Municipal and find out how easily you can get this done. Again, we thank The Municipal for stepping up to become our latest sponsor! We look forward to working with them in the near future and hope that you take a moment to thank them on our behalf.

Four Words & 12 Years

We met for a brief moment at a local Starbucks in Valencia, California- one month after the tragic events of 9/11/01. Steve Berkery was assigned to LAFD USAR Task Force and had just returned from a tour of duty at Ground Zero, Manhattan. I asked him what moved him the most and he told me it was one FDNY Firefighter's four words, "Please don't forget us."

These four words led me to attempt something that has never been done--design a tribute patch and try and get all firefighters to add it to their uniforms. The 9/11 Patch Project was born and the attempt to notify and get all fire departments on board, began in December of 2001. Funds raised from the sale of the $3 patches would benefit the FDNY's Uniformed Firefighters Association. After 6 months of selling the patches, $15,000 was raised and sent to the UFA on the 1 year anniversary of 9/11. Our initial costs were $18,000 for mailers and about $1.75 per patch. In addition to my full time firefighter/paramedic position, I worked about 40 additional hours per week for nearly 6 months, filling 25-50 orders each day. Orders ranged from many 1-2  patch orders to as many as 500 in one order. By the way, the 500 patch order came from a Hong Kong Fire Officer who bought them for many of his firefighters in China!

Nearly 12 years later, there are over 10,000 organizations in 30 countries that have stepped up to participate in the project. This includes firefighters (domestic and abroad) and deployed U.S. Troops. Photos of firefighters and soldiers were sent in over the years by those proud to count themselves among those who would make a promise to Never Forget.

Even though I was a firefighter reacting to the loss of 343 brothers, it made sense to create a patch with a firefighter, police officer and soldier on it for the 5-year anniversary date of 9/11. Decals, pins, and even a 9/11 Challenge Coin was created later to provide more fund raising merchandise.

How did we survive 12 years?  Aside from the 1st 9 months of fund raising, sales for the 9/11 themed fund
raising merchandise have been very sporadic. So, other fund raising projects needed to be designed and implemented to both raise funds for 9/11 related organizations and for the 9/11 Patch Project Fund; our own fund that was put in place August of 2011 so that we can keep our project running. The 10 Yr 9-11 Manhattan to Manhattan Bus tour was created as a fund raising 10 yr anniversary awareness trip across the United States. The tour ran 9 months--18,000 miles--176 stops and our major sponsor, Fire Careers, drove the bus and met with firefighters and citizens at every stop. $20,000 was raised despite the bus arriving in areas met with some of our nation's largest and most destructive disasters--including Joplin, MO, where the large 40 foot bus had to run for cover. The 9/11 Bus arrived in D.C. in time for the earthquake and in New York right when the hurricane hit Manhattan.

How can you help? We depend heavily on our $911 Sponsor program to keep the project afloat--problem is, many say they will step up and sponsor and few actually do. The program started during the 9/11 Bus trip where we picked up Chicago Firefighters, Philadelphia Firefighters, Baltimore Firefighters, Cataret Firefighters and Northrop Grumman, among others, as $911 Sponsors.

Back then, we put our sponsor logos on the side of the giant bus and thousands would see them as it traveled across the U.S. for months. Today, we do things a bit differently. You see, we feel if you are willing to step up and help us out, we are willing to promote your organization from our website, blog, newsletters, 4 Facebook pages, press releases, trade shows and Twitter. It is no secret that our promotion works--we have plenty of testimonials we can send those with cold feet. Many will still spend thousands for trade magazine ad's when they can spend far less with us and get tons more promotion.

The 9/11 Patch Project is the largest, longest running and farthest reaching firefighter owned 9/11 project in the world. We are proud to make that claim and hope that you consider helping us continue to do great work all over the world to remember the heroes of 9/11. We need heroes too--become ours HERE.

Brett Hill- Former Firefighter/Paramedic & Founder
9/11 Patch Project

The Sponsorship That Gives Back

What is a $911 Sponsor and how does it help our non profit organization as well as your company? The short answer is that it is a program initiated by the 9/11 Patch Project to help fund the project. Those who step up to become a $911 Sponsor receive a lifetime of promotion!

In these uncertain economical times, Fire/EMS and other companies are looking for the best bang for their buck. Ad's in major fire magazines can cost thousands and you never really know who sees it or how many sales are generated because of it. And, the Ad can be buried in the magazine--a magazine with a relatively short life span.

CASE STUDY: TheBattalion.TV has been one of $911 Sponsors for nearly 2 years now. You can see them on our sponsor page and even on display at the various trade shows we attend. For instance, during the San Diego Firehouse World show, the 9-11 Patch Project and our partners, Hero Industries and Xtreme Valor, had a 10X20 booth. Our non profit effort to remember the heroes of 9/11 and raise funds for 9/11 charities attracted the interest of the local San Diego KUSI Channel 5 News. We were the only exhibitor at Firehouse World to get the news coverage and this also brought attention to our sponsor, TheBattalion.tv. As you can see in this news clip, they received a few exposures due to their large poster we had on display at our booth.

As an admin to the Facebook NeverForget911 page, we also have the opportunity to post info on our sponsors to over 444,000 fans. We also promote those who step up to become our sponsors through our other 3 Facebook pages, Twitter and this BLOG that has well over 35,000 reads.

The $911 Sponsor is a one time donation and we will promote your company for a life time. Spend thousands on magazine articles, newspaper ads or even television ads; or put some of your advertising budget towards a worthy non profit organization and let us promote you through our social media sites as well as events and trade shows we hold or attend. More information on the $911 Sponsor program HERE.

Hero Bears

The 9/11 Patch Project recently teamed up with Hero Industries to offer the 9/11 Hero Bear to help raise funds for the 9/11 Patch Project and customized Hero Bears as fund raising opportunities for all Fire & EMS agencies around the world.

Working as a firefighter/paramedic for the last 20 years, Hill (9/11 Patch Project founder) knows that handing out teddy bears to kids that are sick or injured can make a tragic experience for them turn into something a little more positive. And when a family has lost their home or apartment to a fire, handing the children a Hero Bear or two can put a smile on their faces--especially after knowing they may have lost most of their own personal toys and stuffed animals.

Having custom Hero Bears to hand out with your departments patch or name stenciled on the back, is one of the best public relations tools you can have for your organization. The custom Hero Bear is also a great fund raising opportunity for your organization. Buying the Hero Bears at wholesale will allow your organization to sell them at a 100% mark up to insure funds can be easily raised.

With EMS agencies, we can even outfit the bear with a blue jumpsuit, a blue helmet and even add your agencies patch or name to the back. The ear tags that come with the bears can even be customized to add specific information about your organization.

Get your 9/11 Hero Bear or have our custom Hero Bear designed today. If you want to use the 9/11 Hero Bear as your organizations fund raiser, contact us today and we can get you the wholesale pricing for multiple 9/11 Hero Bears.