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Firefighters to raise scholarship funds
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s first woman firefighter died earlier this year, but her colleagues are hoping to keep her memory alive by way of a scholarship fund that will help others become firefighters.
Sharyl E. Frasier joined the city fire department in November 1981. She died Feb. 10, her 53rd birthday. Frasier retired from the department in 2009.
Marsha Harris, a 21-year veteran of the Youngstown Fire Department, was a close friend of Frasier’s. She said Frasier believed in the importance of education and wanted to see more people open up to firefighting as a career choice.
She said a plan by the Youngstown Association of Black Professional Firefighters to raise at least $5,000 for a scholarship in Frasier’s name should help to accomplish that goal.
“College and firefighting were a passion of Sharyl’s, and this really is a good way to honor her memory,” Harris said. “We are raising money to start a scholarship fund in the name of Sharyl Frasier, the first African-American woman in the department. It would be primarily for African-Americans who want to become firefighters, but if we don’t get any takers, then it would be open to general education.”
To raise money for the scholarship fund, the YABPF will have a “Unity in the Community” benefit at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Wick Park Pavilion. The event will have live entertainment, refreshments, an auction and a 50/50 raffle.
Harris said she is not sure if the entire $5,000 fund will be offered to one candidate each year or if the scholarship money will be divided into two $2,500 scholarships. She said either way, all of the money will go toward scholarships for prospective firefighters or college students.
Frasier, during her time with the department, was instrumental in helping to obtain the Kneeley Fire Safety Trailer to help teach kids the dangers of fire. She also worked with young people in the Juvenile Firefighter Program, where troubled youths receive instruction about fire safety.
Marilyn Nadal of the fire department said the scholarship also will be a means of continuing Frasier’s work with young people.
“We wanted to reach out to young people and let them know this option is available to them. Believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know there are women, or for that matter, minority women, on the [firefighter] force so this will be informative,” she said.
Nadal said she would not speculate as to how many younger people might consider becoming firefighters with the available scholarship and increased information about the field, but said she believes Frasier would love the effort put into inspiring those potential candidates.