“The Terre Haute Heroes Project”  

       “The Terre Haute Heroes Project” is ongoing. Over the years SOFAP cameras have documented many of the heroic and life saving efforts of Terre Haute’s own hometown heroes, Our Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Technicians are out there everyday. They train for it & they think nothing of doing it. Most people don’t realize that these people are more than the cop that writes a ticket, more than the fireman that puts out the blaze in the garbage bin out back, more than the guy that hooks up the oxygen and takes your pulse. SOFAP honors the emergency medical staff at our hospitals for their training and readiness to help all that come in their doors regardless. They not only care for innocent injuries and routine illnesses, they treat burn victims, gunshots, knife wounds, communicable diseases and truly unruly criminals that Terre Haute’s heroes bring in.

      The Postal Department deserves special mention. They sort, transfer and deliver to the door letters and packages that could contain deadly contaminants or bombs. They do this in the rain, snow… you know the credo. Terre Haute Heroes Project requires the cooperation of both the Police and Fire departments, and SOFAP has been delighted to find both departments very tolerant of our behavior.

      Getting the “shots” has been and will be a long an arduous job. Bill sometimes rides along with one department or the other. Since generally, nothing too exciting happens in the district he’s riding in, Jahn teasingly says, “He is just rides along to keep Terre Haute safe (Maybe the city should put him on the payroll?)”. Most of the time though, we monitor the fire, police, and EMT calls and race as fast as is legally possible to different scenes. Sometimes, we are fortunate to catch the departments in action which you will see a sampling of in these images. In the images we have included here, you will see purely documentary and artistic portrayals of Terre Haute’s (and Vigo County’s) heroes in training, in action, and just giving themselves to the community in one way or the other. The best, you have to wait for.

      Our end goal is to produce a DVD & coffee table style book, showing the side of our local Police and Fire departments the general public is not aware of. Maybe SOFAP’s images will help the general public to know the incredible sacrifice these men and women make on a daily basis.

      The cost of just getting the images in time & money, let alone producing the DVD & book is way outside the SOFAP budget. So far, we have relied entirely on inside funding. Somewhere in the near future we are hoping that some interested parties will help out with sponsorship in return for inside advertising and of course a DVD & book or two.

      HMMMM…. Maybe some of those businesses & manufacturers who utilized these departments last year… or an individual who just wants to help appreciate Terre Haute’s Hometown Heroes’. Regardless, our work goes on and if someone wants to help out, feel free to give us a call (812-235-4084).
 
      Jahn and Bill both want to thank every one that has helped and everyone who will help with this project.

THANKS!

Exhibit at Java Haute 

3805 Wabash Ave.

The Terre Haute Heroes Project will be on exhibit this February

at Java Haute drop in and see the images and have coffee.

Resent Exhibit at the SWOPE

Terre Haute Heroes Project: photographs by Bill Elmore
Coming October 17th. On view through January 3rd, 2009.