FOR A GOOD CAUSE:

Janet Payne started working at the Paul Mitchell School in Costa Mesa on Sept. 11, 2001.

One year later, the school held a remembrance day, and raised $4,500 from a cut-a-thon event to donate to charity.

Co-owner Winn Claybaugh told Payne, “You go ahead and pick a charity where you’d like to put that money.”

Payne called Costa Mesa Fire Battalion Chief Greg Stewart to tell him the school wanted to donate all the money they had raised to its firefighters fund.

Only problem was, Stewart told her Costa Mesa didn’t have a firefighters fund.

They did by the end of that day.

The Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. Widows and Orphans Fund was established with an initial contribution of $4,500.

For Payne, a motivational coach, inspiring people, holding them accountable and encouraging them to make things happen is what she does.

She believes in giving back to the community, and the firefighters in Costa Mesa continue to have a special bond with the school.

The school continues to hold a 9/11 memorial each year, and the firefighters send over a truck and one of their own. Meanwhile, the school continues to add to the fund.

“They’re like family,” Payne said. “Just the greatest guys.”

The Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. is independent of the Costa Mesa Fire Department, and exists as a way for the firefighters to take care of their own.

Fire engineer Paul Kim, one of three board members who oversees management of the fund, said the money they’ve raised is set aside to help a family if a firefighter were to die in the line of duty.

The funds would be immediately accessible, and he’s thankful the association hasn’t had to use it yet.

The Costa Mesa Fire Department employs 106 firefighters, and Kim said in the event of a catastrophe like 9/11, it would be easy to see how quickly the $12,000 the fund has amassed would disappear.

The association receives some donations from community members, and for the past two years has participated in a “Firehunk Bachelor Bid” event at Z’Tejas restaurant at South Coast Plaza.

The restaurant invited the firefighters to join their annual “Chile Fest” by auctioning off dates with “hunky firefighters.”

In its inaugural year, the auction raised $2,000 for the fund, with one of the seven firefighters going for $650.

Kim said that while the guys are obligated to follow through with at least the one date a woman has bid on, many of the women don’t even want an actual date — they’re just there to have fun and support a worthy cause.

For the firefighters, raising money — even for something as necessary as the Widows and Orphans fund — is challenging, because “the nature of our job is to help and do things for other people.”

“It’s not normal to ask for things for us,” he said.

For more information about the fund, call the Costa Mesa Fire Department at (714) 754-5106.

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at sue.thoensen@latimes.com.