The fine print, in plain words

Terms and Conditions

Last updated November 2, 2026

These terms cover firefamilysupport.com, the Fire Family Support community, and anything you buy here. By using the site, joining the community, submitting a form or paying for something, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

1. Who we are

Fire Family Support ("Fire Family Support", "we", "us") is a Colorado business owned and run by Melissa Alvarez in Windsor, Colorado. You can reach us at [email protected] or Fire Family Support, PO Box 342, Windsor, CO 80550.

2. Using the site

• You need to be 18 or older to buy anything, list a business, post an event or join the community.
• Give us true, current information on forms and keep your contact details up to date.
• Don't misuse the site: no spam, scraping, hacking, fake listings, or trying to get around payments or approvals.
• The site's text, photos, logo and the workbook belong to Fire Family Support or are used with permission. You can share links, but please don't copy or resell our content without asking.
• Partner Perks, discount codes and links to other websites are offered by those businesses. We don't control their sites, products, prices or codes, and a code can change or end without notice.
• Information on this site is general support and education. It isn't medical, mental health, legal or financial advice. If you or someone you love is in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911.

3. Payments

• All payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. Stripe's own terms also apply to your payment.
• Prices are in US dollars and are shown next to each item on the site. We can change prices for the future; a change never affects a period you've already paid for.
• Anything marked "every 6 months" or "/mo" is a subscription. It renews automatically at the same price until you cancel. You can cancel any time through the link in your Stripe receipt, or by emailing us, and it stops at the end of the period you've paid for.
• Payments for listings, Highlights, event posts, table spots and advertising are payments for advertising and promotional services. They are not charitable donations and are not tax-deductible as gifts. Donations on our Give page go straight to the organizer or nonprofit named there, on their own site, under their terms.

4. Resource Hub listings and FFS Highlights

• The Resource Hub is for first responder-owned businesses, nonprofits serving first responders, and businesses that support first responders. Browsing the hub is free.
• A hub listing is $10 every 6 months. Featured is an extra $90 every 6 months. FFS Highlights (a post, reel or carousel Melissa reshares on her Instagram stories and keeps in her Highlights) is $125 every 6 months for first responder businesses and nonprofits, or $250 every 6 months in the Community Partners Highlight for first responder-supported businesses. Featured and Highlights need an active hub listing. Bought together with a listing, they renew with it; bought later, each renews every 6 months from the day you bought it.
• Every listing is reviewed by Melissa before it goes live, and first responder-supported businesses have a connection call first. We can decline, edit for length or clarity, or remove a listing that is inaccurate, off-topic, offensive, or doesn't fit the community. If we decline your listing, whether you get a refund is up to us (see Refunds).
• You're responsible for what your listing says, including your discount codes and offers, and you confirm you have the right to use any logo, photo or name you send us. You let us show that content on the site and on Fire Family Support's social media for as long as you're listed.
• Messages sent to you through the hub's contact form are forwarded to your email. We don't vet the people who send them.
• A listing isn't an endorsement. We don't check every business's licenses, products or services, so visitors should do their own homework.

5. Event posts and table spots

• Hub members post events on the calendar for free. Without a listing, an event post is $10 per event for first responder businesses and nonprofits and $40 per event for first responder-supported businesses.
• Every event needs a real connection to the first responder community and Melissa's approval before it shows.
• Event organizers are responsible for their own events, including safety, permits, tickets and refunds for their attendees. Fire Family Support isn't the organizer of events posted by others.
• Table spots at Fire Family Support events ($25 for flyers and cards, $50 for product or giveaways, $200 for a 6-month season pass) give you space for your materials at the event. We set up and run the table; placement and how materials are shared are up to us. If we cancel an event, we'll let you know and may move your spot to another event.

6. Other advertising

Newsletter features, sponsor spots, Instagram story shout-outs, banners and partner bundles are scheduled with Melissa after you pay. We'll agree the date and content with you by email. We can decline content that doesn't fit the community.

7. The workbook and other downloads

• After you buy the Through the First Year Workbook ($19), we email you a personal download link. The link works for 90 days, so please save a copy. If it expires or doesn't arrive, email us and we'll send a fresh one.
• The workbook is for your own personal use. Please don't share the link, post the file, or resell it.

8. Hub+ membership

Hub+ is a paid membership, launching January 2027, that adds Melissa's training modules and the cohort space to the free community. It's $15 a month, billed monthly through Stripe until you cancel. When you cancel, your Hub+ access lasts until the end of the month you've paid for, then your account goes back to the free community. Training content is for members' personal use and can't be shared or recorded for others. What's included can change and grow over time.

9. The free community

• The community is free for first responders and their families. You sign in with a link sent to your email; keep access to that inbox to yourself.
• What you post (posts, replies, photos, your profile) is yours. You're responsible for it, and you let Fire Family Support show it inside the community so the community can work. We won't use your posts outside the community without asking you.
• Other members can see your name, the role and department you add, and your profile. Please don't post anything you wouldn't want other members to see, and never post anything that could compromise a responder's safety or an active incident.
• Be kind. No harassment, hate, threats, sexual content, spam, selling without permission, sharing other people's private information or photos without consent, or anything illegal.
• Melissa and community admins can pin, hide or delete any post or reply, and suspend or remove any member who breaks these rules or puts the community at risk, with or without warning. A removed member can't sign back in. Removed Hub+ members aren't refunded for the current month.
• The community is peer support, not professional advice or emergency help. In a crisis, call or text 988, or call 911.

10. Refunds

• All sales are final. Payments for listings, Featured, Highlights, event posts, table spots, advertising, the workbook and Hub+ are non-refundable, including if a listing, event or ad is declined or removed.
• Any refund is at Fire Family Support's sole discretion, decided case by case. If you think something went wrong with a payment, email [email protected] and we'll take a look.
• Subscriptions (listings, Featured, Highlights, Hub+): cancel any time to stop the next renewal. Cancelling doesn't refund time already paid for.
• If we do give a refund, it goes back to the card you paid with, through Stripe.

11. Newsletter and emails

When you sign up for the newsletter you'll get about one email a month, sent through our email provider, MailCheap. Every newsletter shows who it's from and our mailing address, and has an unsubscribe link at the bottom; we act on unsubscribes right away and always within 10 business days. We never buy email lists or add you without your sign-up. We also send emails you need, like receipts, sign-in links, download links and replies about your listing or event.

12. Affiliate links, sponsors and paid features

To be upfront, as the FTC asks: some links on this site, including some Partner Perks (for example Comfrt) and Melissa's Amazon storefront, are affiliate or referral links, so Fire Family Support may earn a small commission or credit if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Businesses in the Resource Hub, FFS Highlights, Featured listings, sponsored newsletter spots, shout-outs and Event Partners pay for that placement. Paid placements are marked as Featured, Highlights, Community Partner, sponsor or partner, and social posts we're paid for are labeled as ads or partnerships. Melissa only shares businesses she believes serve first responder families, but a paid spot is advertising, not a guarantee.

13. Copyright and takedown requests

We respect other people's work. If you believe something on the site or in the community uses your copyrighted work without permission, email [email protected] with the subject "Copyright notice" and include: your name and contact details, the work you own, the link to the content you want removed, a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorized, a statement that your notice is accurate and that you're the owner or allowed to act for the owner, and your signature (typing your full name is fine). We'll remove or disable the content promptly and let the person who posted it know. If your content was removed and you believe it was a mistake, reply with a short explanation and we'll take another look. Members who repeatedly post others' work without permission will be removed. You can also use the same address to report any post, listing or event that you think breaks these terms.

14. Accessibility

We want everyone in the first responder community to be able to use this site, including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation or zoom. We aim to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1, level AA): text alternatives for images, readable contrast, labeled forms and pages that work on phones. If something is hard to use or you need information in another format, email [email protected] and we'll help and fix it.

15. Legal bits

• No guarantees. The site and community are provided "as is". We work to keep things accurate and running, but we can't promise the site will always be available, error-free, or that a listing or ad will bring you a certain number of customers or followers.
• Limit of liability. To the extent the law allows, Fire Family Support and Melissa Alvarez aren't liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability to you for any claim is limited to what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim.
• Your responsibility. If something you post, list or advertise causes a claim against us (for example, it infringes someone's rights), you agree to cover our reasonable costs.
• Colorado law. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado. Any dispute goes to the state or federal courts in Colorado. Let's try to sort it out by email first.
• Changes. We may update these terms. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change is significant, we'll post a note on the site or email paying customers. Using the site after a change means you accept it.
• Our Privacy Policy explains what we do with your information.

Your information

Privacy Policy

Last updated November 2, 2026

This explains what Fire Family Support collects on firefamilysupport.com and in the community, why, who helps us handle it, and how to ask us to change or delete it. Short version: we collect what we need to run the site, we don't sell it, and we don't track you with advertising cookies.

1. What we collect

• Newsletter sign-ups: your email and whether you're a family, a business or a department.
• Forms (listings, events, table spots, connection calls, waitlists, the cohort waiting room, spotlight requests): what you type in, such as your name, email, phone, business details, links, logo and event details.
• Purchases: your name, email, what you bought and the billing details Stripe asks for. Stripe, a PCI DSS Level 1 certified payment processor, handles your card on its own secure page; your card details never touch our site and we never see or store the full number.
• The community: your email, the name, role, department and "about" you add to your profile, your posts, replies, likes and photos, and whether you're a free or Hub+ member.
• Messages to businesses through the Resource Hub: your name, email and message, which we pass to that business.
• Technical basics: like any website, our host sees your IP address and browser details when you visit. We use them only to run and protect the site (for example, to stop spam) and to count visits in aggregate, not to build a profile of you.

2. How we use it

• To run the site: publish listings and events, deliver what you bought, send download and sign-in links, and run the community.
• To get back to you: replies, receipts, approvals and connection calls.
• To send the newsletter if you signed up (unsubscribe any time from any email).
• To keep the site and community safe, and to keep business and tax records.

We don't sell your information, we don't share it for cross-site or targeted advertising, and we don't use it to make automated decisions about you.

3. Who helps us

A few trusted services store or process information for us, only to do their part:

• Cloudflare hosts the website and the community database and photos.
• Google (Google Workspace): form entries and sales land in Melissa's private Google Sheet, emails are sent from [email protected], the workbook file is stored in Google Drive, the events calendar comes from Google Calendar, and the site's fonts load from Google Fonts.
• Stripe processes payments and subscriptions.
• MailCheap stores the newsletter list and sends the newsletter.
• Dubsado handles booking if you schedule a connection call on Melissa's calendar.

Each of these has its own privacy policy. What you put in a hub listing or an approved event is public on the site, and community posts and profiles are visible to other signed-in members. We may also share information if the law requires it or to protect someone's safety.

4. Cookies and similar storage

We keep this to the minimum the site needs to work:

• Community sign-in cookie (ffs_session): keeps you signed in to the community after you click your email link. It's only set if you sign in, can't be read by scripts, and ends when you sign out or it expires.
• Your browser's own storage: the site remembers that you've already seen the newsletter pop-up (for 60 days), and saves what you typed in a form while you go to pay, so you don't have to type it twice. This stays on your device and isn't sent to us.
• Stripe sets its own cookies on its checkout page to process payments and prevent fraud. Cloudflare may set a security cookie to protect the site from bots.

We don't use advertising cookies or tracking pixels. To understand how the site is used, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics and our own simple counters, which count page views and clicks (for example, which Partner Perks get tapped) without cookies, without fingerprinting and without identifying you. Because nothing above tracks you and everything else is needed for the site to work, there's no cookie banner. You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings; if you do, the community sign-in won't stay signed in.

5. How long we keep it

We keep information for as long as we need it for the reason you gave it: a listing while it's active, newsletter details until you unsubscribe, a community account until you ask us to close it. Purchase records are kept as long as tax and accounting rules require. Deleted posts are hidden right away; ask us if you want them erased completely.

6. Your choices

• Unsubscribe from the newsletter with the link in any email.
• Edit your community profile any time, or delete your own posts and replies.
• Email us to see, get a copy of, correct or delete the information we have about you, or to close your community account. We'll confirm the request comes from you (usually by replying from the same email address) and answer within 30 days.
• The site isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you think a child has given us information, tell us and we'll delete it.

Your state privacy rights

Depending on where you live, laws like the Colorado Privacy Act or the California Consumer Privacy Act give you the right to know what personal information a business has about you, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and to opt out of its sale, targeted advertising and profiling. We give these choices to everyone, wherever you live, and we won't treat you differently for using them. Since we don't sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising or profiling, there is nothing to opt out of, but you can always tell us not to, and we respect Global Privacy Control signals from your browser. To make any request, email [email protected] with the subject "Privacy request", or write to the PO Box below. Someone you authorize can make a request for you. If we turn down a request, we'll say why, and you can appeal by replying to our answer; if you're still not satisfied you can contact your state attorney general (in Colorado, coag.gov).

We protect your information with secure connections (HTTPS), private access to the sheet, and sign-in links instead of passwords, but no system is perfect. If something ever goes wrong that affects you, we'll tell you as the law requires.

7. Contact and changes

Questions or requests: [email protected], or Fire Family Support, PO Box 342, Windsor, CO 80550. If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. See also our Terms and Conditions.