Recently, I was asked to be a part of the 2015-2016 Kidde Brand Ambassador Council and I could not be happier to be a part of this great team. I say this for a few reasons. First, I have been familiar with Kidde Fire Safety for some time and have been very impressed with their product line, but also what they stand for and what they do to give back and support great causes. Second, I have a personal interest in this. You may remember that I severely burned my hand back on the day before Valentine’s Day 2013, ending up in the burn unit of the University of Michigan Hospital for a number of days. In those days, I learned so much about burns and about how severe home fires can be. I also learned about how preventable they can be, too, if only people are informed and proactive (here are five simple steps to safety).

All of this being said, I was pleased to be asked to be a part of #TeamKidde, which includes the following blogs:

 

Days of a Domestic Dad (returning ambassador)

Resourceful Mommy (returning ambassador)

Selfish Mom (returning ambassador)

Love that Max

Earlier in March, the Kidde brand ambassadors came together in Washington DC to get to know each other and learn a ton about Kidde and Kidde’s community partners. I was the unfortunate member of the team that could not attend in person. I had broken my ankle back in December and recently found that the ankle was not healing and thus I had to have surgery on the ankle. That being said my doctor/surgeon stated that there would be no flying within two weeks after the surgery, so I was grounded, and I was bummed!

The great people at Kidde though bent over backward to try and connect me to some of the action. I joined the team on Day one for the afternoon and learned a lot about Kidde’s products and virtually met some of the non-profit partners, including National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and Safe Kids. Both of these organizations were remarkable and really provide support to so many.

• I learned myself that the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation does an amazing job at recognizing fallen firefighters. This is so important as these individuals sacrificed so much for others, I believe that they need to be recognized and remembered!
• In regards to Safe Kids, I was not aware of a lot of the efforts that they were making nationally to create awareness and change in regards to safety for kids in general. Their website is strewn with amazing resources, videos and more that will help parents with kids of all ages and they are covering a broad spectrum of safety topics too. If you have never checked out this great organization, you should today!

I missed out on meeting representatives from the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors but I was already aware of this amazing organization from my own interaction with them after my burn experience. The Phoenix Society provides so much support for burn victims and their families. One of the programs I was most impressed with was the Phoenix SOAR®program. The Phoenix SOAR® program (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery®) meets many burn victims as they begin the journey of the recovery. The purpose of the program is simple yet powerful: that no survivor of a burn injury should feel alone as they make this journey. Personally I can tell you that you can feel alone and different when you and your body are changed by burns and having a program like this is powerful and important! I was so happy that my fellow Kidde Team members were visiting a burn unit themselves as it is very powerful and something that you will never forget; I know I won’t.

While I was not able to be at the Kidde Safety Summit, I will definitely be sharing more with you about fire safety this year. We all can and should learn more and take steps to teach our kids too about fire safety, as, especially in my home state of Michigan, we need to make changes. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, Michigan has the second most home fire fatalities in 2015, trailing only New York, and I for one, hope to be one part of changing this!

After learning more about Kidde in the parts of the Safety Summit that I was able to attend, I am truly looking forward to raising awareness about fire safety and making changes in my own home and lifestyle, but also am hoping to be able to encourage many of you, my readers, to do the same.

 

I encourage you to find out more about Kidde through their Social Networks

 

• Facebook.com/Kidde on Facebook
• @KiddeSafety on Twitter
• @KiddeFireSafety on Instagram

 

I am a part of #TeamKidde. I am acting as an ambassador for Kidde in 2015 and posts, while compensated, reflect my honest and personal experiences with Kidde and their partners.