Raising a family full of volunteers

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
What does it take to raise a community-driven volunteer? 
While there may be no clear answer, Tanya and Roger Foote say they believe that watching fellow family members help others may have done the trick for their family — six of their nine children are involved in different community organizations. 
Tanya recalled that a chance meeting between her oldest son, Rodney, and volunteer firefighter Mark Christensen at the Back to School Safety Bash in 2014 started her children on a volunteer journey that has the youngest three waiting to follow in their older siblings’ footsteps. 
“Just before that, I was working with my grandpa and the neighboring house caught on fire. I saw that, and it really peaked my interest,” Rodney said. 
Volunteering started at the age of 17 for Rodney, now 21, when he joined the Explorer’s program of the Newcastle Volunteer Fire Department. His twin sister, Tabitha, was quick to get involved, working with the Weston County Search and Rescue to start the cadet program, similar to the explorer’s program that allows underage youth the opportunity to work with the volunteer agencies. 
Now, Tabitha and Rodney are both involved with the Weston County Fire District and the Newcastle Volunteer Fire Department. They are both trained EMTs and involved with search and rescue. Nate, 18, is also EMT trained and involved with the fire district. 
Following in their footsteps, Benjamin, 17, and Hannah, 15, joined the fire department’s explorers program and the search and rescue cadet program that their sister helped to start. Daniel, 13, is also involved in the cadet program. 
The siblings said that the services offered by the programs often overlap and that it helps to be trained in the different aspects one might face on a fire or EMS call. 
“We like helping people out; that is why we got into EMS,” Rodney said.
Tabitha added that EMS is something she loves to do. She recalled that she and Rodney were able to use their EMS training while on a fire call. 
“We were responding to a fire and Daniel Tysdal had his wreck. We were able to assist,” Tabitha said. “You can’t be without medical training.” 
Through their volunteer work, the Foote brothers and sisters have received significant amounts of training in areas that other people may not ever experience. With search and rescue, they said, they get to scuba dive and repel down cliff faces while learning dive and cave rescues. 
“We get to do stuff other people don’t know and help our community at the same time,” Rodney said. 
“You are learning to help yourself and others,” Tabitha added. 
Tanya said that her children don’t volunteer and participate for the glory, but to help the community they love in the best way they know how. 
“We just wanted to help out more, so we asked the questions and got more involved,” Rodney said. “There is always a need for more volunteers, for younger, fresher blood.”