[ applause ] thank you. but that s i should be clapping for you. when i served in the senate, i fought to create the safer grant program. as vice president, i worked to double the funding. my first months as president i invested $350 billion in the american rescue plans to keep firefighters on the job during the pandemic, cities like tampa, dallas, tulsa, knoxville, used the funding for premium pay. new fire and rescue vehicles, extra staff during peak times. the law would increase federal fire fighting grants by $300 million, paying for emergency response vehicles, thousands, thousands sets of turnout gear, so much more we have to do. critical cancer research. putting more local firefighters
firefighters. how are you doing? reporter: the collection effort nothing short of monumental, was the idea of oleg, who was born in central ukraine and moved to the u.s. when he was 14. three years ago he joined clifton, new jersey s fire department. seeing how the brotherhood runs through the department, that was one of the reasons. reporter: when russia invaded his home country, he says he knew his ukrainian brothers needed him too. you see the brotherhood not just in united states but all over the country, and including our cities. everybody comes in at once in the time of need. reporter: what started as an effort to collect a few sets of turnout gear to send over quickly turned into 1,100 sets and so much more. we wanted the focus on firefighter personal protective equipment, which would be your coat, your pants, hood, helmet, and gloves and boots.
just in the united states but all over the country, and including overseas. everybody comes in at once in the time of need. reporter: what started as an effort to collect a few sets of turnout gear to send over quickly turned into 1,100 sets and so much more. we wanted the focus on firefighter personal protective equipment, which would be your coat, your pants, hood, helmet, and gloves and boots. then we branched out just a little bit further and told people we would need hand tools. then we branched out a little bit further onto the medical side with backboards. reporter: to date, the donations mostly retired gear but perfectly usable, have come from more than 100 fire departments across the country. we were getting contacted by departments in colorado and minnesota and wisconsin, and ohio. that s what firemen do. reporter: the deliveries haven t stopped.