Three families at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) which as you know, houses the only Burn Center in the Dept of Defense hospital system were in serious need of financial assistance.  Our gracious point of contact at BAMC contacted Face The Fire seeking assistance for the Kammerdiener, the Tavara, and the Thronhill families.  The ministry was able to assist each of these families with a substantial gift to help defray the cost of prolonged care for their loved ones.  While the surge has brought success in Iraq and fewer casualties, nevertheless our soldiers are still in harms way and they very much appreciate our prayer and gratitude.  Please keep these families in your daily prayer for healing and recovery from massive injuries.

Finally, in July I was privileged to again see Mr. Keith Maupin in Cincinnati.  He is the father of SSG Matt Maupin who after 4 years of being missing in action was returned to his family this past late spring.  Mr. Maupin began the Yellow Ribbon Support Center to assist those currently serving overseas.  Our ministry made a modest donation to assist his organizations efforts to provide care packages and sundry items to let those serving in harms way know they are not forgotten.

It is with your generosity that the Ministry's financial gifts are possible.  Thank you for your generosity and please continue to pray for those mentioned above as well as all our men and women in uniform.

On April 11th, SGT Merlin German passed away at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC).

Mel and I were pleased to meet Merlin back in 2005 about 9 months after he was grievously burned while serving in Iraq.  Merlin was burned on 97% of his body and only survived by the grace of the Lord.  Merlin was in intensive care for 9 months and then step down care for about 16 months and then an out patient residing at the Fisher House on BAMC.  It comes as a great shock and with much sadness for us and our ministry that the Lord chose to call Merlin home.  We were privileged to know Merlin and that our ministry could provide some encouragement and financial assistance to him and his family.  Most of all, he encouraged Mel and I and so many other soldiers recovering with him.  He was the embodiment of the warrior’s spirit and courage.  He will be greatly missed by us and our nation!  You can read more about Merlin at the following Fox news link,  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353993,00.html .

As you may know, our fiscal year ends in March.  We owe you an accounting of how we use the gifts you have graciously provided.  This past fiscal year of April 07 to March 08 our ministry has provided $36,000 in gifts (inclusive of the gift to the Harner Burn Center in Lubbock Texas) to our wounded servicemen and women, civilian burn survivors, and organizations that support those two groups of seriously burned and injured.  Over the last 5 years of our ministry’s existence, we have provided just over $140,000 in gifts to these three groups.  Your generosity to our ministry has afforded us this measure of success.  While money is the easiest measure, it is not necessarily the most important measure of the effectiveness of our ministry.  The greatest measure of success is the individual response to encouraging and sharing the Lord’s grace with those critically burned.  As a spiritual measure, only the Lord knows the true measure of our ministry and your generosity that supports us.

Thank you for your generosity and continued support and prayer for our ministry.  

The ministry started by severely burned 9/11 Pentagon survivor Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell and wife Mel has donated nearly $50,000 received from speaking engagements and book sales to burn units, burn survivors and wounded servicemen and women

DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TX—Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell was standing about 20 yards away from the spot where American Airlines Flight 77 deliberately crashed through the outer wall of the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.  Though horribly burned, Brian survived—but the weeks and months that followed were filled with excruciating pain, more than 30 operations and endless therapy sessions.  Brian and Mel Birdwell lived with the fear and overwhelming stress and sadness burn patients and their families must endure.  Yet, amid the agony and heart-wrenching circumstances surrounding them, the Birdwells discovered life-sustaining hope and meaning in events that were out of their control. 

            It was this discovery and the knowledge that God wanted them to use their experience to help others that led them to start Face the Fire Ministries.  In the three years since the ministry’s inception, nearly $50,000, received from speaking engagements and book sales, has been donated to hospital burn units, burn survivors and their families and wounded servicemen and women.  Through their work with Face the Fire, the Birdwells have also visited countless burn units across the country, offering comfort to others who are dealing with burns.

“It is such a blessing to go in and visit these units,” says Mel Birdwell.  “Victims and their families have exactly the same questions we had, and we know what a difference it can make to hear the truth from someone who has experienced what they are going through.  It can be such a lifeline.”

Among the many locations Brian and Mel Birdwell have visited over the past three years are the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles; the Jaycee Burn Unit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the Orange County Burn Center in Orlando; the Strong Burn Center in Rochester, New York; and the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.  During the visits, the Birdwells present victims and their families with a special coin they designed themselves and had minted.

All proceeds from the sale of the Birdwells’ book, Refined by Fire, and from speaking engagements have gone directly to the ministry and its subsequent donations.  Face the Fire Ministries has helped to fund Fisher Houses on military installations—facilities similar to Ronald McDonald Houses—and their child development centers.  These facilities house families who are caring for injured soldiers, as well as provide child care for them while they are away from home.  The ministry has even assisted burn survivors with the purchase of pressure garments for low income survivors.

“There aren’t burn units in every hospital, and sometimes it is necessary for families to be hundreds of miles away from home, with no income to support their needs,” Mel says.  “Face the Fire helps take care of them while they are caring for their loved one.”