Gary Sinise Foundation Grants $104K to Maury County Fire Department

Issue #050

07 Apr

In this What’s Up Columbia issue…

🗓 List of Upcoming Events

☀️ Columbia Weather - Clear with high of 74

🚒 Gary Sinise Foundation Grants $104K to Maury County Fire Dept.

🐴 Mule Day: Today’s Schedule of Events

🛍 Downtown Columbia’s Spring Boutique Crawl

🚴‍♀️ Little Bellas: Mentoring on Mountain Bikes

🗓 Know of Some Local Events Not Listed? Send us the Details! 

Upcoming Local Events

🗓 Have an event to add? Send us the Details!

April 7th

April 9th

April 11th

April 12th

April 13th

April 14th

April 20th

Gary Sinise Foundation Grants $104K to Maury County Fire Department

Next year, the Maury County Fire Department anticipates the arrival of a new asset, courtesy of a $104,295 grant from the Gary Sinise Foundation. This grant will go to the purchase of a water rescue boat, enhancing the department's capabilities in emergency response.

The new addition to their fleet is a 22-foot SJX water rescue jet boat, meticulously crafted to navigate bodies of water with varying depths and shoals, surpassing the capabilities of conventional boats. Featuring a robust "310 HP Indmar, 2.3L Ecoboost Engine," sourced from Millington, this boat boasts specialized features including recessed lighting in the bow for nocturnal operations and a reinforced hull fortified with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene coating, ensuring durability when encountering shoals and obstacles along the Duck River and other waterways across Middle Tennessee.

In a heartfelt video message, Gary Sinise expressed gratitude to the Maury County first responders for their unwavering dedication to community service. 

The department anticipates enhanced safety for its personnel and reduced damage to boats caused by regular use. The SJX boat, set to be manufactured in Idaho, is slated for delivery in 2025.

In a statement released on Friday, April 5th, fire officials expressed their gratitude to Gary Sinise and his foundation for their generous donation, recognizing the life-saving potential of this rescue boat for the Maury County Fire Department and its constituents.

Mule Day: Today’s Schedule of Events

Downtown Columbia’s Spring Boutique Crawl

Eat • Drink • Shop

Enjoy a progressive boutique shopping experience out in Downtown Columbia! 

Gather your friends and embark on a fun-filled adventure while enjoying the personalized shopping experience each boutique has to offer. All ticket proceeds from this event benefit Main Street Columbia towards beautifying our Downtown!

This is a ticketed event - Ages 21+ only

Little Bellas: Mentoring on Mountain Bikes

Meghan Hall - Little Bellas Columbia Program Lead

Is there anything better than riding bikes in the cool, spring evenings? What better way to get out on the trails than with the Little Bellas Columbia Weekly program!

Meeting at Chickasaw Trace, the Columbia Weekly program is open to girls of all abilities. The program offers eight recurring mountain biking sessions throughout the season and focuses on allowing each girl to learn new skills and build confidence, all in a positive, fun environment. Using both trail riding and specific games both on and off the bike, the girls practice proper riding technique, eat snacks, and make new friends. The variety of trails at Chickasaw Trace assures each girl will find terrain just right and challenging enough for her.

Once a week, Sundays, over the course of 8 weeks, girls and Mentors will meet and participate in a variety of activities including games and trail riding. Through these games and activities, the focus is on having fun, using the different elements of the activity to teach and work on basic to more advanced mountain bike skills. This curriculum is designed to teach the girls skills progressively, and perpetuate the love of mountain biking, all while laughing, giggling, and having a great time! This program is for riding and fun and is not focused on competition.

Financial assistance is available if needed and there is also equipment available through the Gear Up program! Please communicate any of these needs when filling out the registration form for the program.

Ages 7-13
Program begins on April 14th