The nonprofit 911 At Ease International, Inc. (911AEI) has raised $2 million to support the men and women who daily risk their lives for the communities they serve, including first responders like Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Bryan Fernandez.
“For so long we focused on physical health and other aspects of the job,” Fernandez said. “After the debris flows and some of the larger fires and other incidents, we saw the elements we weren’t addressing as firefighters in our mental health.”
911AEI provides free confidential counseling and therapy to first responders, including firefighters, law enforcement, service members, emergency medical workers, dispatchers, and other emergency first responders and their immediate families through the At Ease Program.
What started as a local program, has expanded to a growing nonprofit, rolling out services in regions nationally and globally.
“The more people that become aware of At Ease International and what it provides for our first responders, they want to be a part of it,” said James Nigro, 911 AEI Board member.
The program’s success is due in large part to community support. The annual Fun with the Force event is one of the nonprofit’s biggest fundraisers. Hundreds of people attended this year’s party, which featured live entertainment, a flyover memorial for law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, and food and beverages from vendors across Santa Barbara County.
911 AEI co-founder Michael Armand Hammer and his wife Misty matched the $1 million in proceeds raised during the event. “We’ve served thousands of people and we’re growing,” Hammer said. “I will always support (At Ease), because I believe in it.”
The Santa Barbara Police Foundation, which provides support for injured, disabled or catastrophically ill police officers or employees of the Santa Barbara Police Department and their families, co-sponsored the Fun with The Force event. At Ease operated under the SBPF until becoming its own 501c3 nonprofit.
