91-year-old Missouri man rescues fire department with $500,000 donation

A 91-year-old man’s $500,000 donation saved a small Missouri volunteer fire company from certain destruction.

In April, Sam Sloan decided to fulfill a promise he made to himself decades ago when he got out of the livestock and seed processing business: to donate to the Calhoun Fire Department.

“They need the money, since I had it; I had been saving money for a long time,” Sloan said Thursday.

Sloan had an idea of ​​how cash-strapped the fire department was because he lives about two miles from the department.

“It’s a small community and I knew how much money they had to work with every year. I’ve been in business for 40 or 50 years in this community,” Sloan added.

Calhoun, which is about 85 miles southeast of Kansas City, has a population of fewer than 500 people.

But Sloan had no idea that at the end of the first quarter of this year, the fire department only had $169 left in its bank account.

“It’s like a Cinderella story, isn’t it?” said Fire Chief Mark Hardin.

Hardin took over as chief in 2021, when he was just a volunteer firefighter. It has now grown to a roster of 29 members. He says he knew even then that the department was in trouble.

“We relied on donations from other departments; that’s the only way we’re going to survive,” Hardin said.

In April, Hardin says he received an unexpected phone call from Sloan, a man he had never met or spoken to in his life. Sloan made a simple request to receive breakfast.

“He had a lot of questions about the fire department,” Hardin said.

But that was it. Then a week later, another call and another asking for breakfast.

The third week came and the phone call came, but this time Sloan invited Hardin to her house.

“There were cinnamon rolls and donuts on the table and his accountant was there, he stopped. His wife was there,” Hardin recalled. “I had never spoken to the man before in my life and three weeks later he handed me a check for half a million dollars.”

The fire department is already investing the money, having just completed the purchase of the new engine it needs.

“Every penny we bought, we kind of got his permission. Only for him to still be involved in the question of where his money goes,” Hardin said.

The fire department also named Sloan honorary fire chief.

“I really appreciate that they gave me a new chief, fire chief hat and I have it here. Probably use it once in a while, it really meant a lot to me,” Sloan said.

His only other conditions for the gift: a big community barbecue once the department gets new uniforms and a request for the new fire engine to lead his funeral procession.

But Hardin and the rest of the company hope that doesn’t happen for a long time.