Kevin, while assigned to E331 in Howard Beach as a probationary firefighter (with only 3 weeks in the firehouse), the Captain in his firehouse, Vincent Fowler, died while operating at a fire in a private residence. Alongside his firehouse members, Kevin went to the aid of the Fowler family and assisted in the distribution of T-shirts to raise money solely for the widow and three young daughters. While selling shirts at festivals and events, he noted that it would be a good idea to sell these shirts on the Internet, increasing sales and bringing in more money for the family.

Kevin enlisted the help of his brother, Brian (Ladder 61), to help design a website for Capt. Fowler's Memorial T-Shirts. Brian and Kevin also saw the need for a location to sell the shirts of all the other brothers who had died on the job.

The Fallen Brothers Foundation was setup, with a website - FallenBrothers.com. The simple premise: all proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go to the funds of the individual families. Administration costs will be kept to a bare minimum by low cost Web marketing and word of mouth, and most importantly, NO salaries --- Brothers can't make money off the souls of other Brothers.

September 11th changed things. With Kevin involved in the collapse (the only survivor from his firehouse and Battalion), and a flood orders and support from all over the world as everyone wanted to help the families, we had to temporarily suspend sales. We have now restructured the order process to be able to handle the large volume of orders. We are happy to say that by the end of October, we should be back online, better than ever.

We will be adding more items to the site as new designs come available.

We thank everyone for their continued support, now, and more importantly in the future as the families move forward.

In the year 2000, the first full year of operation,
over $11,000 was distributed.

"For Firefighters, By Firefighters"
The Fallen Brothers Foundation is run by NYC Firefighters