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The Thompson Falls Ambulance Service has received funding to help pay for personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 outbreak. Tim Cox, treasurer of the Thompson Falls Ambulance Service (TFAS), applied for funding through the Gary Sinise Foundation. The First Responders Outreach Grant was created to honor all first responders and to help aid in funding for essential equipment and training. During this time, the foundation is offering to help first responders pay for items that are needed to protect people who are on the front lines during the pandemic.

Not certain if the TFAS would be considered first responders, Cox applied anyway in hopes they would be able to help with the cost of masks, gloves and disinfectants he had just purchased.

When Cox received a confirmation email, the foundation, created by actor Gary Sinise, told him the grant requests are reviewed on a quarterly basis and he would be contacted after a determination had been made. "That was on a Friday. By Monday, I was told my request had been approved. They already called my supplier and paid on the spot. By the following Friday, I had a check in my hand for the supplies we had already paid for. It was amazing," Cox said.

The foundation went one step further to help the TFAS. "If that wasn't enough, the following week, the service was contacted by the Gary Sinise Foundation to see if we needed tires for either of our ambulances. Long story short, we now have brand new tires on one ambulance that was completely paid for, including installation," Cox stated.

Cox said the foundation covered around $1,300 in medical supplies for TFAS. That total doesn't cover the new tire installation, which was completed by Baldy Mountain Tire in Plains.

The Gary Sinise Foundation teamed up with Cooper Tires for the second year in a row to "honor first responders and give back to them with donations of new tires for their emergency vehicles." As part of Public Service Recognition Week, which is nationally recognized as the first week of May, Cooper Tires and the Gary Sinise Foundation were inspired to give back to first responders in any way they could.

According to a news release from the Gary Sinise Foundation, to date, 62 tires have been donated to eight first responder departments around the country, including Lancaster EMS in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Thompson Falls Ambulance Service in Thompson Falls, Llano Volunteer Fire Department in Texas and Johnson County MED-ACT in Olathe, Kansas."

"We at Thompson Falls Ambulance are very grateful to the Gary Sinise Foundation," Cox expressed.