The Hero Fund’s most recent biennial report (2017-2018) is available online as a PDF.
The annual report contains the 148 heroic acts awarded during the past two years including the extraordinary actions of seven children and teens. Among those were Kevin D. Little, Jr., 10, of Milwaukee, and Sanford Harling III, 12, of Norristown, Pa., who both died attempting to save family members from their burning homes.
For their efforts, each was awarded the Carnegie Medal. Accounts of the heroic actions of Kevin and Sanford appear alongside 146 other ordinary citizens from throughout the United States and Canada in the biennial report for 2017 and 2018.
“The Hero Fund publishes these reports periodically at Andrew Carnegie’s direction,” Commission Chair Mark Laskow says in the report’s preface, “We hope that as you review those acts, you will feel how momentous each of these events was to both rescuer and victim. Our goal is to share these stories and the sense of their importance both with you and the wider world.”
To date, the Hero Fund has considered more than 90,000 heroic acts for awarding and by the end of 2018, 10,062 were selected for recognition. Carnegie Hero Vickie Tillman, #10000, was named in March 2018 and presented the Carnegie Medal at a Pittsburgh gala the following June. Historically, 20 percent of the awards were to those who lost their lives in rescue attempts, exemplifying the scripture that appears on every medal: “Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
In addition to the medal, each of the heroes or their survivors received a financial grant and became eligible for other benefits from the Hero Fund, including scholarship aid, ongoing assistance, and death benefits. More than $40.5 million in such grants has been awarded by the Commission since its inception, in keeping with Carnegie’s wish that if the hero is injured in his bold attempt to serve or save his fellows, he and those dependent upon him should not suffer pecuniarily.