The Spouse and Orphan’s Fund is a private death benefit fund for firefighters and those directly associated with your fire department (secretaries, commissioners, mechanics). The purpose of the fund is “firefighters helping firefighters”. Both career and volunteer firefighters are invited to be members of the fund. The fund pays a benefit to the member’s designated beneficiary which includes spouse, child, parent, estate, trust or registered Washington State domestic partner of the member upon their death. The benefit is $1.00 for each member of the fund at the time of notification of the member’s death with a maximum benefit of $1,750.00 and a minimum benefit of $1000.00. The fund was started in the 1930’s as the Widows and Orphans fund and changed in 2000 to the current name to better reflect the diversity of membership.
Membership in the fund is open to all firefighters and those directly associated with your department who have not reached their 45th birthday and are in good health. The initial enrollment is $52.00 which covers the period from the date of enrollment until June 30th. Each following year the annual assessment is $50.00. That is $50.00 for the YEAR, NOT per month. If you or your department enrolls five (5) new members, they can enroll a 6th member at no charge for the first year. Contact the treasurer for more information.
The fund pays approximately 40 death benefits each year. The benefit check is sent upon notification of death (we send the money and take care of the paperwork later). This money is welcomed by the beneficiary as cash is needed before insurance policies get around to making their payment.
Membership applications, by laws and the names of those who have passed away in the current year are available on our web site which is
www.wasofund.org.
You must be a member of the fund to receive the benefits. Enroll now. For more information about the fund, questions or enrollment forms please contact the treasurer, Ed Johnson at
WASOFUND@aol.com or at (253-445-9624).