• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Relief

The Relief

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Medical
    • Claim Status
    • What’s Covered
    • Eligibility
    • Change Dependents
    • Prescriptions
    • Find Medical Care
    • LiveHealth Online
    • Wellness Plan
    • Medical Equipment
    • Medicare
    • Long-Term Care
    • Vision
    • ID Cards
    • Kaiser Plan Member
    • PPO Summary Plan Document (SPD)
    • Medical Forms
    • Transparency in Coverage
  • Relief Benefits
    • Firefighter Event Reimbursement Form
    • Medical Equipment
    • Sick & Injury
    • Life & Accident
    • Death Benefit
    • Family Support Group
    • Assistance / Advancements
    • Estate Planning/Trusts
    • Scholarships
  • Ten Bells
    • Death Notices & Funerals
    • Report a Death
    • Member Deaths – A to Z
  • Retirement Corner
    • Scheduled Retirement Events
    • Retirement Announcements
    • Plan a Retirement Event
    • How To Retire
  • Calendar
    • Special Fundraisers
    • Events
    • Retiree Breakfast / Lunch Reunions
    • Memorials / Funerals
    • Firefighter Event Reimbursement Form
    • Add an Event
  • Grapevine
    • Current Issue
    • Articles
    • Columns
    • Mailbox
    • President’s Message
    • Advertising
    • Submit an Article/Photo
    • Archives
  • Donate
    • Donate Now
    • Widows & Orphans Web Site
  • About Us
    • About The Relief
    • Contact Us
    • Careers / Employment Opportunities
    • Board of Trustees
    • Testimonials

Firefighter Crafted: Special Showcase for First Responders

March 1, 2021

Allen Janzen has witnessed the creativity of firefighters. The walls of Los Angeles’ firehouses are filled with artwork and he wants to bring attention to that.

Firefighter Crafted Promotes Firefighters’ Crafted Artwork

About a year ago, Janzen founded Firefighter Crafted, a website that has a four-pronged cause. It promotes firefighters’ crafted artwork and designs; heightens awareness of local fire station apparel and gifts; donates a portion of the proceeds to firefighter charities like Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firefighter’s Fund; and networks firefighters’ crafted designs.

“It’s a website where myself and other firefighters or other fire stations can put their products and sell them to anybody in the public to help raise money for the fire station or another cause,” says the firefighter/paramedic at LAFD Station 102 near North Hollywood, California.

Benefiting our Los Angeles Firefighter Charity

“I looked into the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firefighter’s Fund and it most aligned with my mission to help firefighters and their families in their time of need.”

Janzen sells T-shirts ($20) and masks ($8) through the website.

“I worked with a guy who digitized my ideas and that’s on the T-shirts,” he says. “Someone else—another firefighter—embroidered masks and I also have an embroidered patch. Those are the main products. As the site continues, I may come out with other products and different apparel. I’d like to include paintings in there. Different stations can put their products on there as well.”

Janzen can confidently say he’s wanted to be a firefighter since he was 10 years old, when his brother-in-law took him to Fire Station 88 for Fire Service Day.

A Young Allen Janzen

“That sparked my interest at age 10,” he says. “At 14, I joined the Explorer program and did that for about seven years. Straight out of high school, I went to EMT school and then paramedic school in 2010. That’s always been the trajectory. It took me nine years to get on with the Los Angeles Fire Department. This is the career I wanted.”

Janzen is a longtime artist as well. It’s a hobby he enjoys with his wife, Anna, whom he married seven years ago.

“My wife, she paints a lot,” he says. “When I asked her to marry me, we were painting a scene at a lighthouse. Since then, we’ve done on-site paintings of our honeymoon and vacation spots. It’s a fun thing we’ve done together.”

Raising Awareness of Local Fire Stations

He’s been impressed with the projects he’s seen by LAFD firefighters. On the website, he’ll link to fire stations’ Instagram or other social media outlets to help promote the departments and incidents.

“If you go into fire stations all throughout the city, you’ll see people have made things out of retired fire hose or they’ve painted things, or made cabinets out of wood,” he says. “Some guys do metal work and laser engraving. I wanted to meet these people who do their art. If there’s a way I can help display what they’re doing, then this pays off.”

Allen also set up a fundraising page on our L.A. firefighter charity’s official GoFundMe page and is incorporating it into his web site as well as sharing it with everyone he can to raise awareness of the mission and help generate donations. And, he donated to the online auction.

firefightercrafted.com
@firefighter_crafted
facebook.com/FirefighterCrafted

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

Filed Under: Articles, Featured, Grapevine, Highlights Tagged With: Allen Janzen, Christina Fuoco-Karasinski, firefighter crafted, t-shirts, WODFF

Primary Sidebar

Paid Advertising

Share!

14th Annual Hook and Ladder Enduro

Retired CII Robert Borgman Turns 100 Years Old

LAFD Drones and Pilots: Meet the UAS Team!

Secondary Sidebar

The Firemen's Grapevine

Categories

  • Articles (721)
  • Board Minutes (172)
  • Columns (185)
  • Department In Action (63)
  • Featured (92)
  • Health & Fitness (31)
  • Highlights (92)
  • Mailbox (64)
  • Memorials (27)
  • Retired Guys (33)
  • Sports (68)
  • Training (7)
Chris Stine

President’s Message – May 2023

Named after the Greek goddess Maia, the month of May brings warmer temps, blooming flowers, and the fresh beginnings of summer. From May Day celebrations to Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, and of course Mother’s Day, May is … Continue Reading about President’s Message – May 2023

Archives

  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012

Footer

Main Office Numbers
(800) 244-3439 Toll-free
(323) 259-5200 Direct

Office Location
7470 N. Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90041

Los Angeles Firemen's Relief Association
  • Home Page
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • All Forms
  • Staff Directory
  • Board of Trustees
  • By-Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

Give To A Hero

Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firefighter’s Fund
Donate Now

Copyright © 2023 · Los Angeles Firemen's Relief Association