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Community Corner

Fanwood EMT Named Volunteer of the Month

Bob Kruthers has served more than 50 years with the Fanwood Rescue Squad.

Bob Kruthers has been such a fixture in Fanwood that officials could easily be forgiven for not realizing that he had never been named Volunteer of the Month. 

The mayor and council corrected that oversight on Aug. 12 when they named Kruthers Fanwood’s Volunteer of the Month for August. The honor is one of many that have been bestowed upon Kruthers during more than half a century of volunteer service to the Borough of Fanwood. 

Kruthers moved to Fanwood in 1954 and began his volunteer service shortly after he moved to the borough. He began his volunteer work with the Fanwood Rescue Squad soon after that, and has served the community steadfastly ever since then. Mayor Colleen Mahr addressed Kruthers as she presented him with the Volunteer of the Month award, which included a print of the Fanwood Train Station.

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 “For almost 55 years you have provided a volunteer service for us that has touched three generations of Fanwood and Scotch Plains people, and that says a lot,” Mahr said.

Kruthers joined the Rescue Squad in 1957, the year that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was introduced. Kruthers went on to hold several positions within the squad, including several elected positions. Kruthers has served as the treasurer for the rescue squad since 1965.

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“As an EMT first responder you have helped literally thousands of sick and injured people within our community and outside of our borders,” Mahr said.

She added that by the beginning of the month, Kruthers had responded to more than 5,000 calls in his tenure with the Rescue Squad, something Mahr said had only been achieved by two other members in the history of the rescue squad. Kruthers had cardiac surgery earlier this year, but he hopes to return and that he’ll resume his work responding to emergency calls shortly.

Kruthers is also active in St. Bartholomew’s Parish, where he teaches CCD classes and provides communion for homebound people as a Eucharistic minister. Kruthers has also been active in the Knights of Columbus and served for four years as a member of the Fanwood Library Board of Trustees. 

“Early in my adult life, I found that giving returns so much," Kruthers said. "In everything I do, I find that I get so much more back in what I do."

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