WORCESTER — The Hundred Club of Massachusetts wishes to congratulate Chicopee Fire Department Capt. Katie Collins-Kalbaugh, the 2025 recipient of the Norman Knight Award for Excellence in Community Service at the Massachusetts Firefighter of the Year Awards.
On Tuesday, Nov. 25, at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine presented the Massachusetts Firefighter of the Year Awards to the most courageous and distinguished firefighters in the Commonwealth. The first award presented was the Norman Knight Award for Excellence in Community Service. The annual award is named after the co-founder of The Hundred Club of Massachusetts.
Knight, a legendary Boston philanthropist and media executive who dedicated his life to helping others, co-founded The Hundred Club of Massachusetts in 1959 with the mission that no firefighter or police officer who died while protecting the public would ever be forgotten. He served without compensation as Chairman of the Board and President for over 50 years.
In the years since it’s founding, The Hundred Club of Massachusetts has provided more than $20 million in support to the families of fallen firefighter and first responders.
Capt. Collins-Kalbaugh has served the Chicopee Fire Department for more than 20 years, and has been a passionate, public advocate for fire safety, fire prevention, and fire protection in her community and region.
Awards event emcee Doug Meehan, of WCVB-TV in Boston, told attendees that Capt. Collins Kalbaugh has overseen the Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) program since 2009, that she has served as a fire prevention officer since 2014, and that she also serves as a fire investigator and public information officer.
Capt. Collins-Kalbaugh has also used Department of Fire Services SAFE and Senior SAFE grants to provide as many as 100 smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to older adults who need them each year.
“Whether she’s on camera for an interview, testifying to the City Council, at a fire scene in the midnight hours, or working with the Western Mass Safety and Fire Education Association to protect and inform residents and families, she is nothing less than a force of nature,” Meehan told those in attendance.
“I want to congratulate Capt. Collins-Kalbaugh on earning this prestigious award as Massachusetts honored its finest firefighters,” said The Hundred Club of Massachusetts Executive Director Tracie A. Hines. “The Hundred Club of Massachusetts also recognizes all of the 170 firefighters who were honored Tuesday. We are proud to support first responders like them, and to keep a sacred promise to the families who support them.”
For more than 65 years, The Hundred Club of Massachusetts has been the only statewide organization solely dedicated to supporting the families of fallen first responders. When tragedy strikes, The Hundred Club provides immediate relief and stands by these families for life.
To learn more about the 2025 Massachusetts Firefighter of the Year Awards, click here.
About The Hundred Club of Massachusetts
No police officer or firefighter who dies — whether in the line of duty or not — should ever be forgotten. Since 1959, the Hundred Club of Massachusetts has been the state’s wholly dedicated charity supporting the families of our fallen heroes. The Hundred Club gives an unequivocal and unconditional promise to police officers and firefighters in Massachusetts that in the event they lose their life we will remain with their families, compassionately caring for them for the rest of their lives, ensuring that their sacrifice is never forgotten. The Hundred Club of Mass., Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
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