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Wichita firefighters promote 9/11 Honor Challenge to raise funds for mental-health programs
Summary
Wichita firefighter Brian Dauphin and nonprofit Beyond the Call urged public participation in a Sept. 13 Honor Challenge fundraiser to support firefighter scholarships, peer-support mental-health groups and trials of a soap intended to remove carcinogenic compounds absorbed on the job.
Wichita firefighter Brian Dauphin urged community support for a fundraising event this weekend aimed at supporting firefighter mental-health and training programs. "25,000 civilians were saved," Dauphin said of the FDNY on Sept. 11, using the remembrance to frame the Honor Challenge hosted by Beyond the Call. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 13, at 327 North Wabash and is open to the public; organizers said attendees may sign up at 911honorchallenge.com or on-site.
Dauphin described three programs the fundraiser will support: the Ty Boath Memorial Scholarship to assist firefighters' children with college expenses, a peer-support program the speaker called "unknown call" intended to address mental-health needs and reduce suicide risk, and trials of a soap developed with a local doctor that organizers say removes polyaromatic hydrocarbons—compounds firefighters can absorb through skin exposure in burning structures. "We're also gonna be able to fund our unknown call for fire," Dauphin said, and added the soap trials began recently to measure effectiveness.
Mayor's remarks at the briefing reiterated the event time and location and invited residents to the related memorial stair climb on Sunday at 8 a.m. at the Epic Center across from City Hall, an event organizers said will replicate about 110 floors of climbing while carrying a fallen responder's name or photo. The mayor thanked Beyond the Call and the Wichita Fire Department for their work supporting first responders.
Organizers described the Honor Challenge as family friendly, with divisions for competitive and recreational participants, a bounce house and food trucks. Beyond the Call framed the fundraiser as its first major event for Wichita and said proceeds will go directly to the nonprofit's three core programs. The briefing did not provide independent verification for the medical claims about the soap or the suicide-statistic linkage; those items were presented by the speaker as program rationale.
