On Sept. 30 the Fire Department station located on North Oakes Street was awarded the Southeastern Spirit Award during a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Twelve Oaks.
The Southeastern Spirit Award is an award given to a local business that goes above and beyond in it support of the university. The award was presented to Assistant Chief Stormy Lee, Captain John Thomas and Chris Ferrara, owner of Ferrara Fire Apparatus due to their creation and use of a Southeastern fire truck decorated with the university’s colors, athletics logo and realistic lion motifs.
“We worked really hard on getting this accomplished, with painting the fire truck and showing the support,” said Lee. “We kept fighting and fighting because the Southeastern University means a whole lot to the city of Hammond. We’re showing spirit of Southeastern University through sporting green and gold on the fire job.”
As a result of conversation between Lee and President John Crain, Southeastern gave the fire department the money needed to pay for the paint.
“We got a plaque and a banner,” said Lee. “We put the banner up in front of the