In a lot of places across America, especially the rural towns of upstate New York, there’s simply no fire department without volunteers. No first responders. No one coming unless neighbors step up to help. That’s why we’ve spent more than 20 years supporting the Firefighters Association of the State of New York’s mission to recruit the next generation of volunteer firefighters and EMTs.

These are real people with regular jobs who step up and do extraordinary things. And we’ve been honored to help tell their stories and inspire new journeys in volunteer emergency services.

We didn’t just make a campaign, we built a movement. From statewide TV spots and online documentaries to grassroots toolkits and social content, we’ve worked every angle to help departments get the word out.

We talked to volunteers. We ran focus groups. We created media that actually speaks to the people rural communities depend on. We wrote the messaging, shot the footage, built the brands for RecruitNY and “Is There a Fire in You?”, and handled logistics from casting to crew. Real faces. Real voices. Real impact.

We also helped fire departments get what they needed to recruit locally – customizable signs, print collateral, digital ads, social posts, media kits and training tools – all designed to be used by volunteers for volunteers.

We’re proud of the awards this work has won. But we’re prouder that it works to the tune of 25,000+ recruits over the course of our campaigns. Our commitment to these brave volunteers extended to the political arena as we were able to help FASNY build support for successful legislation that protected firefighters and the public alike in the form of the Fire Safe Cigarette Law, EMS billing reform that returned sorely needed funds to departments and critical cancer coverage for volunteer firefighters.

Because supporting the American way of life means showing up for the people who still believe in service, sacrifice and community. We’re here for those people … because we are those people.