Your car donation can help improve lives of burn survivors
November 19th, 2008The Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation (AARBF) is a non-profit organization that helps to enhance the lives of burn victims and promote burn prevention education. This California-based organization was founded in 1981 in memory of Alisa Ann Ruch, an eight-year old girl who was fatally hurt in a backyard fire in their home in Southern California. Her tragic accident brought together her family, the local firemen, and medical professionals to a common goal of helping to prevent burn injuries. To date, the foundation continues to further their cause with the help of volunteers and various donations in the likes of cash gifts and car donation services.
Burn prevention
AARBF hosts several programs aimed at educating the public on fire safety and burn prevention, especially among children. One of these programs is Firefighters In Safety Education or FISE, which is a collaborative program with local firefighters aimed at teaching fire safety to kids from pre-K level to grade five.
The foundation also has a Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Training program where they provide low-cost fire setter intervention classes to fire professionals and concerned community groups. This program aims to put an end to juvenile firesetting, which accounts for more than half of arson cases nationally. Still on juvenile firesetting, Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation oversees Fire FRIENDS, a collaborative intervention program that targets juvenile firesetters themselves and their families.
AARBF also holds various outreach programs on burn prevention. They hold training seminars in schools, fire department offices, hospitals, safety fairs, and other community agencies. Aside from these programs, the foundation also issues an assortment of resource materials such as Scald Safety Kits, which are given for free to parents and child care professionals in California. These kits are for infants and toddlers and are available in English and Spanish.
Survivor services
To round up their goal of improving the lives of burn survivors, AARBF sponsors various survivor services such as the Champ and Family camps and the Young Adult Summit. Champ Camp is a residential summer camp for burn survivor aged 5 to 16. The Family camp is held annually on Labor Day for the benefit of adult survivors and their family. Meanwhile, the Young Adult Summit for survivors aged 17-20 is held every President’s Day and is focused on life management.
Other survivor services include Bridge To Life which provides college education stipends, support groups, and hosting of social events where survivors can interact with fellow burn survivors and other members of their community.
How you can help
AARFB runs on the support of generous individuals who share their time and money to the foundation. One easy way to help the foundation’s worth cause is through the car donation services here at Donate Car USA. AARFB is one of the hundreds of organizations that benefit from our car donation services. Learn more of the program through this website.




