By Becky Maxedon

Two Lake Havasu City EMT class members were awarded with the Don W. Danielson Memorial Scholarship.

The scholarship was put in place by the Lake Havasu Professional Firefighters Assn., after the untimely death of Danielson in 2006.

The first scholarship, according to chairman of the Scholarship Committee Tony Rivello, was presented in 2007 to Lake Havasu High School senior Nicole Parriera. Parriera, at the time, was headed to UNLV. She has recently graduated as a doctor.

Over the years, the scholarship has varied in size from $1,000 to $2,000 and recipients used it for EMT classes, fire academy training and more.

“In the beginning, we had a scholarship application process that the Scholarship Committee, compromise of several members of the LHPFFA, Don Danielson’s mother Cathy, and one of his friends, Kit Borg, would review and choose a recipient” Rivello said in an email.

“In approximately 2011, we partnered with the Lake Havasu MCC EMT class and decided we would award the top student of the class with a $1,000 scholarship. Since then, we have awarded a spring and fall semester scholarship. This has worked out well as it has allowed us to help those getting into either emergency medicine or moving on to registered nursing, etc. Several of the recipients currently work in the field today as EMTs,” Rivello said.

Since its inception roughly $29,000-$30,000 in scholarships has been awarded.

The most recent recipients are Desirae Martin and Makenli Miller.

Martin currently works for AMR Emergency Response and was awarded $1,000 for earning the top grade in her EMT course.

Tony Rivello presents Desirae Martin with the scholarship. Photo courtesy Tony Rivello

Miller was awarded a $1,000 scholarship for earning the top grade in her EMT course.

The scholarships were for the 2020 classes and one more will be awarded soon for the spring class of 2021.

Rivello said the funds for the scholarship are managed through the Lake Havasu Professional Firefighters nonprofit Lake Havasu Firefighter Charities which is a certified 501(c)(3). When donations are made to the FF Charities for the scholarship, 100 percent of the funds go back into the community. There are zero administrative costs associated with managing the fund.

If any readers are interested in helping continue to honor the life and memory of Don “Donny D” Danielson by supporting the scholarship, write a check to “Lake Havasu Firefighter Charities.” Write scholarship fund on the memo line. Checks can be mailed to PO Box 1515, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86405.

LHPFFA president is Tyler Zink and Firefighter Charities president is Scott Jacobs.

Tyler Zink LHPFFFA President and Tony Rivello present Makenli her scholarship. Photo courtesy Tony Rivello