SCHEER: John Fiore's lasting legacy

Sep. 5—In his 60 years of life, John Fiore did a lot of giving.

As a U.S. Marine and later a U.S. Air Force reservist with the 914th Air Refueling Wing, the Niagara Falls native gave 32 years of service to his country, including stints in the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm and the Iraq War.

As a resident of Western New York, Fiore donated a lot of his time to area community groups, serving as a volunteer firefighter, a eucharistic minister at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church and active member of numerous civic and veterans organizations.

Today, Fiore's legacy of giving lives on in a different way, through a charitable foundation established by his family to honor their "hero" who died on Feb. 12, 2009 when the airplane he was on — Colgan Air Flight 3407 — crashed in Clarence en route to Buffalo from Newark, New Jersey.

In the now more than 14 years since that tragic day, supporters of the Fiore Foundation have managed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to support individuals and families in need and charitable organizations across Western New York.

"It kind of helps us heal to an extent, turning that tragedy into something positive," said Fiore's nephew Ron Aughtmon. "We can't change what happened, but we hopefully, certainly, change the lives of other people."

The foundation's donation numbers are impressive.

To date, it has given $277,000 to Ronald McDonald House in Buffalo, $67,000 to the veterans group Western New York Heroes and $20,000 in support of SABAH, Inc., which provides adaptive ice skating and ice hockey activities for special needs athletes.

Another $555,000 in foundation funds have been used to help needy individuals, families and community organizations across Western New York.

In addition to big-dollar donations, there's smaller, less noticeable forms of assistance like providing food for local pantries and school supplies for schools and teachers.

Each week, each month, each year means more donations, more helping others in John Fiore's name.

"He gave his life giving back to our country, our community, service members, children's organizations and we just wanted to carry on his legacy of giving and it just kind of snowballed as we kept doing this," Aughtmon said. "We kept thinking, 'Oh my God, we're growing. We're helping more people.' It's kind of taken on a life of its own."

The "we" includes Aughtmon who helped co-found the organization with his cousin, Fiore's daughter, Dana Hartman. Aughtmon's wife, Diane, serves as treasurer and secretary. The trio of foundation officers draw no salaries from the organization for their work.

As Ron Aughtmon said, their roles are more like "part-time jobs and full-time passions."

"It's become just a passion for us to carry on his legacy," Aughtmon said. "At the same time, we see how it helps people and organizations and families. It's a little bit selfish on our part because it makes us feel so good seeing what it does for others."

It all started from humble beginnings.

The group's first big fundraiser — held at Hyde Park Golf Course in 2010 — barely managed to field enough foursomes to qualify as an actual tournament.

Over the years, through a lot of cold calling to business owners and relationship building in the community, the foundation's annual golf tournament fundraiser has grown considerably, moving from Hyde Park to the Niagara County Golf Course in Lockport and finally to its current location at Willowbrook Golf Course.

Meat raffles and other fundraisers were added as years passed.

Events grew. Donations continued to flow.

"It's honestly who supports us, our volunteers and our sponsors, our people that buy raffle tickets and come out and golf and support us in everything we do," Aughtmon said.

Then there's the advocacy.

Along with dozens of others representing the 48 other passengers who were killed when Flight 3407 went down, members of the Fiore family continue to push to protect pilot training and air travel safety standards they helped implement at the federal level.

Aughtmon said they've made "countless" trips to Washington, D.C.

All the "pounding on the doors" of their elected representatives helped bring about a breakthrough in 2010 when President Barack Obama authorized the Aviation Safety Act, which imposed enhanced air travel safety standards and additional training for pilots.

More than a decade later, the fight continues as each year Aughtmon said the airline owners and their lobbyists attempt to reverse progress Flight 3407 families have made.

"We call ourselves the family we never wanted, but it's just part of our lives," Aughtmon said.

"We don't want any family to go through what we did, to go through the pain of knowing that they passed away on a flight that was completely avoidable and that that crash should never have happened," he added. "You never want another family to go through that."

So what would John Fiore think of the work of his family, his friends and others whose lives were forever changed by the Flight 3407 tragedy?

"He would have been at the forefront fighting for this and that's why I do it and why my family does it," Aughtmon said.

The Fiore Foundation welcomes donations and other forms of support.

For more information, visit the organization's website at johnfiorefoundation.com.

Mark Scheer welcomes comments from all participants in the Human Revolution via email at mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com and by telephone at 716-282-2311, ext. 2254. Follow him on Twitter @ByMarkScheer.