Strength in Service: Standing with Wisconsin Firefighters

In Wisconsin, when a firefighter needs help, the call doesn’t go unanswered.

The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation steps up for its 4,000-member firefighters, for their families, and for their communities through every kind of challenge.

Call it Strength in Service.

These firefighters look out for one another. They show up on the hardest days — and they remain ever-present through quiet ones that follow. This November, Fire Department Coffee is proud to support the Foundation and its mission to care for those who serve. Through the Fire Department Coffee Club, which donates $2 from every bag, and the Fire Department Shirt Club, which donates $5 from every shirt, benefits the Foundation’s wellness and peer support programs. The same programs that keep firefighters healthy, connected, and supported through the unseen battles of the job.

Taking Care of Their Own

The Foundation’s work stretches far beyond the fire station, beyond the scene of the call.

When tragedy strikes — a line-of-duty death, a department reeling from a major loss, a firefighter struggling to get through the next shift — their team is there.

Their Honor Guard shows up on the hardest days imaginable, helping families and departments navigate every step of the farewell.

Most days, their work is quieter. It’s found in the confidential conversations between firefighters who’ve been there — the ones who know what it’s like to carry the weight of what they’ve seen.

That’s where PFFW’s Peer Support Program comes in. 

“We train all of our own peer support counselors through vetted clinicians,” said Jerry Biggart, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin. “Then we’re able to deploy them based on what happens.”

Sometimes that means helping one firefighter through family struggles or burnout. Other times, it means sending an entire team to respond to a large-scale tragedy, like the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack in 2021, when a man drove an SUV into a crowd, killing six people and injuring 62.

“We sometimes have to send a whole team, and they’re there for days,” Biggart said. “And it may not just be for the fire department. The private ambulances, the dispatchers, the police — we never put up any walls for anyone that needs help.”

In cases like this, the support is reactive. Whenever possible, Biggart says, the foundation’s goal is to be proactive.

“We don’t want to respond to a department that had a member’s suicide,” he said. “We want to prevent that suicide.”

This month, everything you contribute brings the foundation closer to that noble goal. And the effects multiply in their benefits for every day that follows.

“When we help a firefighter stay healthy and on the job, that firefighter is there to respond to the next 911 call,” Biggart said. “They can be there to save someone else’s life. The ripple effect is real.”

Drawing Strength from Each Other

November’s design carries that same message of resilience and unity.

The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation logo is prominently displayed on the front of the shirt. The back features a tough Wisconsin badger, depicted wearing a firefighter's helmet. The imagery is set against the outline of the state, with an American thin red line flag within it. An axe and a halligan are crossed behind the badger, and the powerful motto "Strength in Service" is boldly presented below.

It’s a design that captures what these firefighters embody every day — readiness, pride, and integrity.

“Strength in Service” is also featured on the coffee bag for our November Coffee Club roast, a handcrafted blend of Nicaraguan and Rwandan coffee beans. With rich notes of dark chocolate, citrus, and raspberry, every bag brewed and every shirt worn helps to fuel this cause.

Because in Wisconsin — and across the country — firefighters always respond when disaster strikes. They check on each other when the shift ends. They carry one another through the toughest calls of all.

Together, we can carry that mission forward.

Join us this month by getting the Fire Department Coffee Club or Fire Department Shirt Club.

Drink coffee that supports those who serve.

Wear it proudly.

Show your strength in service.