A new nonprofit helping Iredell emergency workers through crises has already given support to a handful of first responders and is ready to bring comfort to more.
First Responder Support Services offers counseling, chaplaincy and financial crisis aid. Founder Andrew Donowa, himself a first responder, says the organization wants to expand into other counties.
“I’m a first responder and I get what first responders are going through,” said Donowa, a member of Iredell County Rescue Squad. “I’ve been in the place where I’m going, ‘God, is this truly what you want me to go through? Why are people dying?’ and I need to talk to someone.”
Donawa said he spent years thinking about ways to help officers, firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers and others before eventually starting FRSS in May.