Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
By COURTNEY GREVE
Chicago Sun Times (Illinois)
Wanted: A dozen hunky Chicago firefighters willing to become 2007 pinup boys.
Think you fit the bill?
Then Jeff Porter wants you to strut your stuff tonight as the hunt commences for the stars of next year’s Chicago firefighter calendar.
Don’t worry about showing off your six-pack or pumping up your pecs.
The models in this tasteful calendar are all clothed.
Ed Gill, a 24-year veteran firefighter from the Mount Greenwood neighborhood, hopes to make the cut. The spiky-haired blond with a chiseled chin was an alternate for the 2005 calendar.
“I think it would be pretty cool,” he said. “It’s not like it makes you a celebrity or anything, but it would be about doing my part to help other firefighters.”
The party tonight at 115 Bourbon Street in southwest suburban Merrionette Park doubles as a fund-raiser for the Ignite the Spirit Fund, which Porter and Rich Pinskey founded to help their own.
“It’s all about having fun and helping firefighters and their families in tough times,” said Porter, 2005’s “Mr. September” and a father of five from Mount Greenwood.
MONEY WENT TO KATRINA SURVIVORS
Gene Rowell, 48, a firefighter from Beverly, was glad to help this year by posing as “Mr. August,” even if it meant being teased by his buddies on Truck 42 at 91st Street and Cottage Grove.
“It wouldn’t be a firehouse if they didn’t razz you,” he said.
Calendar sales netted about $30,000 this year, Porter said. About the same was raised last year during the calendar’s inaugural season.
Some money was given to individual families when a firefighter died. Another donation went to buy computers for a West Side school that was destroyed by arson.
But the biggest chunk — $20,000 — was spent to buy and deliver Christmas toys to young survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
For more information about the calendar, the fund and upcoming events, visit www.ignitethespirit.org.