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New foundation turning heartbreak into hope for military families

One local family is channeling heartbreak into something positive, nearly a year after a devastating fire in Donnelly took the lives of four people.

GARDEN CITY -- One local family is channeling heartbreak into something positive, nearly a year after a devastating fire in Donnelly took the lives of four people.

Two Idaho National Guard members and two children were killed when flames ripped through a cabin near Tamarack Resort on June 30, 2017.

MORE: Two Idaho guardsmen, two children killed in cabin fire

Loved ones created a foundation in honor of two of the victims, 1SG Erin Smith and her 6-year-old daughter, Autumn, to help other military families.

"We just take it one day at a time. The foundation helps keep the focus going and driving forward," Erin's father and CEO of the 1SG Erin R. and Autumn McCall Family Foundation, Mike Strong, said.

Today, Erin's and Autumn's legacies live on, as the 1SG Erin R. and Autumn McCall Family Foundation aims to continue the values and teachings Erin instilled in her daughter and her military brothers and sisters.

The foundation is hosting their first fundraiser on July 6 and 7 with two memorial benefit concerts and auctions in Eagle. There will be a private house VIP concert Friday, July 6, from 6-10 p.m. featuring Lisa Sanders and Brown Sugar and a Memorial Benefit Concert at the Eagle Sports Park Saturday, July 7, from 5-9 p.m. featuring Tom Shepherd and Lisa Sanders. You can purchase tickets at blazethetrailusa.org/events.

"Erin loved being in the military. She loved her country," Strong said. "She came back with her combat medics badge. Lived quite an experience over there, had a Humvee blown out from under her."

A dedicated soldier, wife, mother, daughter and sister, Erin Smith was a trailblazer and an inspiration to many. She also made history when she became the first female tank crew member in the U.S.

MORE: Boise woman becomes first female tank crew member in U.S.

"She was a person that would always take care of everybody," Strong said. "She was just incredible at everything she went after."

"Erin had a saying we sort of synopsized into 'change happens when ordinary people do extraordinary things'," the foundation's business manager, Frank Peak, said. "If everybody did a little more extraordinary things more often, that change will happen."

At 34 years old, her life was cut short. Her adopted daughter Autumn's light was dimmed, too, in the accident.

"She grew up just a ball of fire," Strong added, "Nothing scared her. She was just fearless and she wanted to see everything, explore."

Days after their death, Strong says he had a vision of what he needed to do.

"That we could make some good out of this," he said through tears, "I had this idea that maybe we could start helping the military by establishing a foundation that we would pay the cost for adoptions."

So in partnership with his other daughter, Jessica, and other folks along the way, Strong established a foundation in Erin and Autumn's honor.

"I really thought that'd be something Erin would want me to do," he told KTVB. "Just sitting there thinking about everything and what she had done with her life in such a short time."

The foundation has a three-pillar approach, Strong says, with fully funding expensive adoptions for active duty military families at the forefront, so others can experience what Erin and her husband, Mitch, did when they adopted Autumn. The foundation's website says: "It was through adoption that Autumn completed the Smith family and why another focus of the foundation is, Autumn's Gift, funding the option of adoptions. Through Autumn’s Gift we will fully fund adoptions for active duty National Guard, and all other active duty branches of the United States Military."

"It just would be I think just the ideal gift, especially for people that serve in this country," Strong added.

The 1SG Erin R. and Autumn McCall Family Foundation is setting out to empower communities to provide military members with needed services, enabling them to complete their mission.

"Their connections they're trying to make for the military are, I think, important for a strong military - which leads to a strong country," Peak told KTVB.

Through the "Eyes Full of Wonder" program, the foundation is hoping to help the Idaho National Guard, Idaho Air Guard and active duty military access child care during drill weekends and annual training. It is also their vision to provide immersive day camps and improve or build parks in small local communities.

The ultimate goal is to support the military and military families, with the mission statement of: "Enabling Erin's vision to provide caring support and needed services. Through involvement with the National Guard, active duty military and small communities."

"Giving kids the opportunity to have places to go to," Strong said.

"It's critical that children have the opportunities that Erin and Mitch were trying to make available to Autumn," Peak said. "Actively helping people that are deployed or trying to serve - until they are deployed there are holes there, there are holes the military doesn't meet and the community doesn't meet. And we can help meet those."

If you can't make the concerts in July, the family asks you help continue Autumn's and Erin's legacies with a donation. Learn more about the foundation at blazethetrailusa.org.

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