After a propane gas explosion claimed the life of one Farmington firefighter and seriously injured six others on Sept. 16, 2019, Kevin Frost realized no local nonprofit existed to help families when such disasters strike.

Frost, who grew up in Farmington, formed the organization Shining Star to help in big ways and small, whether it’s when a fire destroys a family’s house or when when a child is seriously injured by a dog. He and the nonprofit group also support and recognize first responders such as dispatchers, firefighters, police and emergency medical services.

He owns Frost Detailing in Farmington. He has a one-ton truck with a 300-gallon tank that he can use to do anything from detail a car to completely clean a tractor-trailer or farm tractor. “I have been in business over 25 years with mobile service,” Frost said.

How did you get involved in Shining Star? After the LEAP (Life Enrichment Advancing People) explosion I realized Franklin County really didn’t have a nonprofit that was for the community when times like these happen. So I got talking with a lawyer and she pointed me in the right direction to get this little nonprofit off the ground. Shining Star is a 501c3 so I can get donations and give a slip for a business to use on their taxes.

What does the organization do? Shining Star comes in after a fire takes place and we set up a benefit dinner and if they lose everything we come in with new clothing and shoes or whatever their immediate needs would be. Shining Star only runs off donations. No one in this nonprofit gets paid, so all monies collected go out to the people in need. We also hold benefit dinners for people dealing with aliments such as cancer or life-threatening illness.

How do you fund it? Shining star is solely funded off donations. So I strive to go out when I work to get donations for this great nonprofit so I can help out when help is definitely needed. I have a bottle collection bin out front of my house as well, so people can donate to that and all money goes to Shining Star as well from that.

Are you the only one involved? I have three board members and I have a few volunteers to make this happen. For each benefit, I try to get the person’s family to help out with the benefit so when the individual gets to the benefit they are surrounded by people that are truly there to help. Toward the end of the benefit I will count the money and ALL money gets handed over to the person. We don’t even recoup the money that it cost for the meal. All money that comes in that day goes right to the individual.”

What do you enjoy about helping people? I do this because no one has made this type of thing happen, and when I was younger I was always told “If ya want something done right, do it yourself,” so then people may see just what you were talking about. I figure there are things I could do instead of this project, but at the end of the day it’s just about helping people when they need it the most. It’s what builds a community. If you would like to donate to this project you can send a check made out to Shining Star to 202 Maple Ave., Farmington, Maine 04938.

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