Fire Bowl raises money for pediatric burn survivors

CEDAR RAPIDS - Next summer a few dozen Eastern Iowa children will spend a week at burn camp thanks to the hustle of area first responders and medical staff during the fifth annual Fire Bowl.

The Cedar Rapids Firefighters Foundation holds the seven-on-seven flag-football tournament each year to raise money for area charities in Eastern Iowa. Sunday's tournament, held at Kingston Stadium, raised more than $26,000 for St. Florian Fire and Burn Foundation. The money will send burn survivors to the weeklong 2015 Miracle Burn Camp in Lake Okoboji. For each $800 raised, one child can attend the camp.

Kurt Kroemer, treasurer of the firefighters foundation and co-director of the Fire Bowl, said Sunday morning their original goal was to raise more than $40,000.

'Dealing with burn victims is something that's closely related to what we deal with on a day-to-day basis,” Kroemer said of this year's cause.

The Cedar Rapids Firefighters Foundation partnered with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Burn and Treatment Center. Alison Pauley, a nurse manager at the UIHC burn unit, said the foundation reached out a year ago.

'It was a partnership we were very excited to be a part of,” Pauley said.

Pauley, who attends the camp every year as a camp director, said campers range from ages eight to 18 and get an opportunity to meet other burn survivors.

'Many of these kids come from communities where they're the only one whose ever experienced a burn or skin grafting and they get to meet other kids who've had that experience,” she said.

Pauley said the camp is the only integrated burn camp in America, which brings together campers who are burn survivors with children who do not have burns. Kroemer said the Cedar Rapids Fire Department has sent three firefighters as volunteer counselors to the camp.

The camp is about fun but also a part of the healing process for many burn survivors, Pauley said.

'This camp offers a safe environment for those kids to learn how to engage with others,” she said.

Kroemer said the Fire Bowl has grown from the four teams that participated five years ago to 12 teams competing in Sunday's event.

'The whole goal is to raise money for the children and I think everyone - with the EMS and other emergency services as most of our teams - we all have a desire to do that and everyone really gets behind that,” Kroemer said.

The first place trophy went to the Sponsor Team with the UIHC Emergency Department in second. Surrounding fire departments, the Sheriff's office, ambulance services, several hospital emergency departments, and a group of sponsors all had teams participate in the tournament.

Sunday was Lindsay Feld, 29, and fellow Mercy Hospital Emergency Department team members' first time participating in the football tournament. In addition to a good team building opportunity, Feld said the money goes to support something she encounters on the job.

'We work in the ER so we see multiple patients that come in with burns,” Feld said during a break on the sidelines. 'It's great we can come out and support the cause.”