Foundation Formed to Aid Spring Lake, N.C. First Responders

Dec. 20--SPRING LAKE -- Officials in Spring Lake have created a nonprofit foundation to benefit the police and fire departments.

The Spring Lake Public Safety Foundation is the answer to slimming budgets that would otherwise be a concern for first responders, officials said. They believe a new organization can be a force for good in the town.

The foundation made its first mark on the town this month, placing a wrecked Hyundai Sonata at South Bragg Boulevard and Main Street to discourage holiday motorists from drinking or texting while driving.

The organization, led by town officials and business leaders, has the main goal of supporting the Spring Lake fire and police departments.

The foundation will work to fill budget gaps, but it also will promote public awareness using donated funds and other items, such as the wrecked car on loan from a local auto shop.

Alderman James O'Garra was the driving force behind the foundation, said Jeff Hunt, director of the Greater Spring Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Upset over a town policy instituted last year that required officers to pay to take their police cruisers home, O'Garra wanted a way to support officers outside of official town channels.

Hunt said that in a previous job in Detroit he saw the good a public safety foundation could do.

After looking into foundations in that city and others, including New York and Philadelphia, the Spring Lake Public Safety Foundation was formed as a nonprofit earlier this year.

"We realize we're much smaller than those communities, but the needs are still there," Hunt said. "The needs are probably greater, even. When a house is on fire in Spring Lake, the last thing the family wants to hear is that firefighters don't have the best equipment."

Police Chief Troy McDuffie and Fire Chief T.J. McLamb have thrown their support behind the foundation.

Both serve on the foundation's board and said the organization is not meant to replace town funding. Instead, they want to supplement what the town can provide, avoiding difficult budget decisions.

If the town can't fund new equipment, they said, maybe the foundation can with the help of private donations or grants.

The same can be said for station renovations or public safety campaigns, like the one at Main Street and Bragg Boulevard, they said.

"We need each other," McLamb said. "The public needs the private and the private needs the public."

McDuffie agreed.

"It's an additional resource to sort of tap in to," he said. "With a smaller department, it's always a challenge trying to provide the resources the department needs."

O'Garra said the foundation has been welcomed with open arms so far.

In November, the group raised more than $7,000 at a golf tournament, he said. Other fundraisers are in the works.

"We were really trying to find a way to subsidize our Police Department, our Fire Department," O'Garra said. "We have that. Now we have a few ideas in the works."

For more information on the Spring Lake Public Safety Foundation, call the Spring Lake chamber at 497-8821.

Staff writer Drew Brooks can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3567.