Originally born in Washington State, Vicki Gillis spent years working in the entertainment business before becoming involved in political and charitable causes.  A tragic Oil Refinery explosion at her husband’s work changed her life, as six of his co-workers were killed.  Her husband was an Incident Commander First Responder and was not working that day, but was called in immediately to help deal with the situation at hand.  These losses changed their lives forever.  Since then, much of Vicki’s focus has been on helping firefighters and first responders.

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“I wanted to do what I could to ease the horrific pain one feels after the loss of a loved one due to a tragic accident. Oil and coal workers, firefighters and police, these are dangerous jobs and we're a big family that needs to look after one another.”

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The events of 9-11 are what pushed Vicki from focusing on charity work to becoming more involved politically.  Vicki and the Seattle Benevolence Association raised funds for the FDNY Widows and Children’s Fund where she met and became friends with FDNY Deputy Chief Nick Visconti and Assistant to Chief of Department Steve Mosiello, Steve would later die of cancer from the toxic dusts at Ground Zero.  Before he died Steve asked Vicki to help his fellow firefighters and cops, for whom health battles had only just begun or had not yet begun.  True to her word, Vicki spent several years working to pass federal legislation to help those involved, and has worked at the state and local level as well to help those who protect us.  Later Vicki would catch the eye of an Arkansas State Senator for the work she had been doing through Burl and Dorothy Ives and received a Goodwill Ambassador title from State Senator Steve Ferris.

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More recently, Vicki has been helping former Green Berets like Juan Mata arrange training for SWAT programs in Arizona and California, to get them better training and keep them safer and better equipped to do their jobs.