08/27/2026
🥞 PANCAKE BREAKFAST WITH A PURPOSE 🥞
Our next Indian Lake Volunteer Fire Department Pancake Breakfast is quickly approaching. While these breakfasts have always been about bringing our community together, this one carries a little more meaning for all of us.
This time of year marks one year since we lost one of our own, Firefighter Mark Herman. Mark’s death by su***de left a hole in our department and served as a painful reminder of something that far too many first responders face in silence.
Su***de awareness and mental health among first responders cannot be something we are afraid to talk about.
Firefighters, EMS personnel, law enforcement officers, dispatchers and other first responders regularly see and experience things that most people will never have to. We are trained to show up when someone else is having the worst day of their life. What we aren’t always good at is admitting when we are struggling ourselves.
PTSD, depression, stress and su***de do not care what uniform you wear, how many years you’ve served, how tough you are or how many people you’ve helped.
Recent events have brought this reality painfully close to home again with the loss of Cass County Sheriff’s Office Detective Joseph “Joe” Sheteron. Our hearts remain with his family, friends and everyone at the Cass County Sheriff's Office Cass County 911 - Michigan as they mourn the loss of one of their own.
In Mark’s memory, we have created a limited number of Su***de Awareness shirts that will be available for purchase at our upcoming Pancake Breakfast. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Proceeds from the breakfast will be donated to Unite The Lines Foundation, a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting first responders, raising su***de awareness, helping those struggling with PTSD and mental health, and connecting first responders with people who understand and are willing to listen.
We also plan to donate a portion of the proceeds from this Pancake Breakfast to Detective Sheteron’s family as they navigate an unimaginable loss.
This breakfast is about more than pancakes.
It’s about remembering Mark.
It’s about standing beside the Sheteron family and our brothers and sisters at the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
It’s about reminding every first responder that asking for help is not weakness. Talking about what you’re going through is not weakness. Checking on the person beside you matters.
Sometimes the person who is always there for everyone else needs someone to be there for them.
Come have breakfast with us, pick up one of our limited Su***de Awareness shirts, and help us support those who spend their lives supporting others.
💛 Remember Mark. Support Joe’s family. Check on your people. Start the conversation.
You never truly know what someone is carrying.
