Seattle Fire Department celebrates first of two new medic units with West Seattle donors’ relatives

With Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean in our photo are Suzanne Krahmer and Donald Krahmer, Jr., relatives of an Alki couple whose posthumous $550,000 gift made possible the Medic One unit behind them and will provide a second one soon. We first reported a year and a half ago about the money bequeathed by Mildred Krahmer Sanders (1921-2011) and William C. Sanders (1922-2002), longtime Boeing workers who spent their retirement years in West Seattle. Today, the Krahmers came to SFD headquarters in Pioneer Square for a special celebration – you’ll hear from them and from Chief Dean in our video (and you’ll also see the SFD crowd that was on hand to show their appreciation):

They took a look inside the unit that now carries a plaque with Mr. and Mrs. Sanders’ names, a replica of which was given to them today:

That’s SFD Lt. Sue Stangl inside with them. SFD says its medics responded to almost 22,000 calls last year alone. (You can see how busy they are – check out the live 911 log; any unit number with an M is a medic unit; the one based in West Seattle is M32.)

In addition to giving to SFD, the Sanders left $600,000 that will fund a lab for advanced eye research.

West Seattle Huipster December 12, 2013 (7:04 pm)

WOW. What a true example of giving back. Think how many lives will be saved by the generosity of Mr. & Mrs. Sanders.

cjboffoli December 12, 2013 (7:08 pm)

Another great example of the power of philanthropy. But it’s not just for people donating hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. Everyone has the capacity to make a difference, even contributing $10 or $20 to a cause that’s important to you. The important thing is to participate. Those $20 gifts add up.

Nwmama December 12, 2013 (9:03 pm)

Amazing generosity. Is it just me, but shouldn’t our tax dollars pay for this basic infrastructure, rather than donations?

WSB December 12, 2013 (9:22 pm)

They do. Donations, then, buy more. Same as it works in other vital infrastructure – schools, for example, where you would think taxes should do more, but most individual schools wind up raising tens of thousands of dollars to buy things that are needed but not funded. And back to public safety – SPD has many things provided by the fundraising of the Seattle Police Foundation … and those are just a few examples … TR

Scout15 December 12, 2013 (9:28 pm)

Awesome! I receive patient’s from our excellent Medic one units every day. I absolutely believe that King County has the best medics in the country. They are amazing and this gift will make there good work that much easier.