Jumpline magazine Q1 2023 - Flipbook - Page 34
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Members Giving Back: Karen Joseph
For this month’s Member’s Giving Back
piece, I chronicle the work of retired
firefighter Karen Joseph. The number
of children in South Florida to which
she’s brought smiles to is immeasurable. She says, “Once you get a
chance to see, in person, so many kids
and families in need, you can’t leave it.
Especially during the holidays.”
Karen was originally hired in 1985.
She was new to Miami and to the fire
department life. She was hired along with future Chiefs Donna
Newry and Bob Palestrant, to name a few. But she says things
were different then. And for this article, she says it’s best to politely say that the boys club just wasn’t a good fit for her at the
time, so she left the fire department.
Fast forward, and after 10 years at FPL, she gave it another
go with MDFR and the rest is history! She was successful and
began a life of service at MDFR in June of 1995. Hundreds, if
not thousands of volunteer hours later, she retired in December
of 2019.
Karen says her first experience with volunteer work occurred in
approximately 1998. At that time Donna Newry asked her to assist with the toy drive since she knew they both liked kids. “I’ve
been involved ever since. And my time helping has created so
many contacts, and the joy that comes to the families is so powerful, that I could NEVER step away from helping.”
Her work continues now even in retirement, and she serves as
a member of the Toy Drive Committee. Other good opportunities pop up such as last month (December of 2022) when she
assisted with the toy drive at the trendy Red Rooster restaurant
in Overtown. It was a great event to support the numerous organizations that reach out to the committee each year to receive
toys. All of the requests go in the pot and Karen picks.
Jack Swerdloff, Ret.
Jumpline Editor
supplies and more. When Karen speaks of this story and you
view the photos, it’s understandable how the power of giving back
makes her yearn to keep going
and bring more smiles to people
in need.
“That is what the job and life and
volunteering are about,” Karen
says.
The interview finishes up with Karen’s story about a guy approaching her at the Einstein Bagel’s
across the street from Firehouse 14. The man says to her, “Good
morning. You work at 23, don’t you? I remember you.” Always
polite, Karen says she smiled and listened as he cried and he
said, “I appreciate you. You and your crew saved me from a
cardiac arrest.” At that point she said, “Now we’re both in the
restaurant crying and hugging.” The man’s parting words were,
“Thank you for the job you do.”
Helping others feels good. Thank you to retired firefighter Karen
Joseph. It seems we’re lucky she gave MDFR a second chance.
Now we’re all a small part of her good vibes.
Editor’s note:
We’ll have a Members Giving Back article in each edition
about the awesome work our people are doing. Got an idea
for union members giving back? Are you doing something
awesome that may just compel someone else to join you?
Please send it on over. Help us inspire the troops and remind everyone of the great work you are doing! We need to
see it! We’d love to see it! jumpline@local1403.org
MDFR foam truck driver Keisha Wilson spearheads most of the
efforts on the toy drive these days, but Karen continues to help in
many ways. “I plan to help as long as I can. I have no plans to retire.” There are so many ways to keep helping,” Karen says. She
stays close to her other contacts at her side gig as a high school
teacher, where she gets former students to help in a myriad of
ways. She says that behindthe-scenes work is also very
rewarding because she is
helping young adults learn
the power of giving back.
“We take pancake mix for
granted,” Karen says. That
led to her telling me of one
of the coolest stories of
members giving back. It was
helping one of our own. The
efforts were to assist MDFR Dispatcher Zykeisha Destin, who
wasn’t able to work due to illness. She needed help with every
part of life while she tried to get healthy. Karen and others sponsored a toy drive just for Ms. Destin. Karen says, “I worked with
MDFR Lt. Tina Guiler and Firefighter Kimberly Kennerly and we
felt the true power of helping someone in real need.” Zykeisha
and her children received toys, groceries, drinks, bikes, laundry
February 2023 | JUMPLINE Magazine