To the rescue: Frederick nonprofit supplying Guatemala with fire equipment

March 05--GUATEMALA -- Frederick resident Neale Brown climbed on top of a fire engine with San Cristobal firefighters when he visited Guatemala at the end of January.

The firefighters sat in the engine and asked Brown, president and CEO of AMEDICAusa, how to use the siren. One firefighter shot water from a hose on the fire engine and experimented with the pressure.

AMEDICAusa, which is based in Frederick, donates fire equipment, medical items and education supplies to communities in the western part of Guatemala. AMEDICA stands for Aid for Medicine, Education and Disasters in Central America.

The fire engine had been sitting under a tarp since the nonprofit sent it from the United States to Guatemala Jan. 14.

San Cristobal firefighters waited three years for the fire engine. They were emotional and thankful when it arrived.

"The people from San Cristobal, they were crying. They made me cry, too," AMEDICAusa Executive Vice President Silvana Ayuso said about the arrival of the fire engine.

Firefighters had a parade showcasing the fire engine. Five weeks ago, when Brown visited, they showed off cellphone videos of the celebration that the fire engine had arrived.

Brown lives in Frederick and visits Guatemala a few times a year. He visits schools that AMEDICAusa helps and he checks in with the fire stations.

Salvador Matheu, fire chief of the Retalhuleu municipality's fire station, said the firefighters looked like children opening gifts at Christmas. He told Brown it was a spectacle to see the fire engine that looked small when it came out of a large military cargo plane.

AMEDICAusa is one of about 15 Frederick County nonprofits and about 675 Maryland nonprofits that work internationally, according to Internal Revenue Service data provided by Maryland Nonprofits, an association of state nonprofits.

The nonprofit uses a federal government program that carries humanitarian goods on U.S. military cargo planes to other countries on behalf of private citizens and organizations.

The Denton Program completed 85 missions to 10 different countries in fiscal year 2016 and delivered 609 pallets of goods and 22 vehicles in those missions, according to information provided by the public affairs office on the Joint Base Charleston website. U.S. Transportation Command manages the transportation through a contractor out of Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina.

Brown said he worries that foreign aid programs, specifically United States Agency for International Development, might be cut under President Donald Trump's administration. He said he has heard the president make statements that don't fully support sending money to developing countries.

If the Denton Program were affected, nonprofits like Brown's would have to pay to transport the equipment, such as another fire engine sitting in Brown's Frederick driveway now. That fire engine would have to be driven about 3,000 miles to Guatemala.

Fire engines are not made for long rides. A gallon of gas gets about 5 miles on the road, Brown estimated. It would cost a couple of thousand dollars, at least, Brown said while driving between Guatemalan towns to visit schools on his latest trip.

The nonprofit would have to rent a tractor-trailer to carry the medical, fire and EMS equipment on pallets to get to Guatemala or ship it separately, which also would be expensive.

Maryland Nonprofits, which represents the interests of the about 1,200 members across the state, is more worried about Trump's talk to cut federal domestic spending by $8.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

Heather Iliff, the president and CEO of Maryland Nonprofits, wrote in an email that 32.5 percent of nonprofit funding comes from federal, state and local government sources and 13 percent comes from charitable giving. The largest portion, at 48 percent, comes from fees for service.

"Even small changes could have huge impacts, and the scale of the cuts that are being considered could be devastating," she wrote.

A Maryland Nonprofits board member, Josh Pedersen, of Frederick, said people view charities as an option and not an investment in the community. He said that without nonprofits, some people wouldn't graduate, own a home or have a job.

"It's kind of too early to tell what funding might be cut from the federal government at this point," he said. "I don't want to say the sky is falling if it hasn't been. ... I would hope this administration, as they look to make government more efficient, they recognize the value of nonprofits of providing services to our residents. I am holding my breath."

Brown said most international nonprofits, including AMEDICAusa, don't receive federal funding. But the Denton Program and others like it receive government funding.

When in Guatemala five weeks ago, Brown visited a new fire station in Santa Cruz Muluá. Firefighter Wilfredo Morales, the commander of the fire department, showed him the ambulance that the nonprofit drove there, arriving Aug. 19. It was sitting outside the newly built fire station.

The nonprofit had to pay about $3,500 -- including insurance, licensing fees, fuel and border fees -- to send the ambulance to the town, Brown said. The municipality built a fire station there to house it before the ambulance arrived. The fire engine would cost even more to drive because of its size and fuel costs.

The ambulance was filled with as much medical equipment as the nonprofit could pack in it. The cost didn't include personal expenses, such as food and hotel rooms.

The ambulance runs seven or eight calls a day in the town, Morales said as he stood next to it.

Vicky Rosales, a firefighter at the station, told Brown in Spanish that the day before he visited, the ambulance carried a pregnant woman with a broken leg to the hospital.

Brown and Ayuso walked around, impressed by how quickly the station was built. During Brown's last trip there, the building wasn't there.

"That was all dirt," Brown said.

Members of the nonprofit work to make sure a station has the proper building for equipment before they send it.

In San Cristobal, the fire engine sits under a tarp on the town's property. Ayuso said she has a special agreement in writing that promised that the government will allow the fire engine to stay there until a station is built. The mayor promised to include money in his next budget for the station.

Ayuso said the nonprofit is making sure there's a similar agreement for a station in another town, San Felipe. "We need to see the building first," Ayuso said.

"The last thing I want to do is give away a fire engine and have them not use it," Brown said.

Follow Brandi Bottalico on Twitter: @brandibot.

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