PROVO — The fire was out so their job was over, but as members of the Richfield Fire Department packed up their gear, volunteer emergency medical technician Leonard Dubois couldn't stand to leave.

The fire had gutted a home and left a forlorn family outside with Christmas looming and no help in sight. Dubois wanted to stay and help. "It really hurt me," he said.

The retired Army major soon moved to Utah Valley so he could volunteer 40 hours a week as the emergency services director for the local Red Cross chapter. Or 50 hours a week. Or 60.

"Now I can provide clothing, emergency shelter, classes," Dubois said. "I can really help people. When there's a family sitting outside on the curb, we can be there to help them."

With a $25,000 grant in his name from former daytime television talk show host Jenny Jones, Dubois and the Mountain Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross now will be able to help more people more efficiently. The money from Jenny's Heroes will be spent to upgrade the chapter's old, slow, unreliable computers.

Jones announced the award recently in a surprise phone call to Dubois at the chapter's Provo headquarters.

"Find out where you want to buy the server and computers and send us the bill," Jones told Dubois.

Dubois couldn't believe that he'll soon have two laptops to help workers in the field and new desktop computers for office staff plagued by computer crashes. Two experts had been volunteering full days for two weeks trying to patch together the mismatched system — with little success.

The laptops will improve communications in the field, a big deal for the Mountain Valley chapter, which serves 650,000 people across 47,000 square miles in 14 Utah counties.

"I'm ecstatic," Dubois said. "It's wonderful."

Jones set a goal to give away $1 million this year. She has sifted through 6,000 applications and has spent $840,000.

"This is how I spend my day," she said. "I trust my instincts. When I saw the area covered here and that computers were critical, I wanted to help. I remember my father, who served in the Polish Army during World War II, telling me that no matter where he was stationed, the Red Cross was always there. This donation is in honor of my father."

Jones requires that each grant help a large number of people with long-lasting benefits. According to her blog at jennysheroes.com, she gave $20,000 to a women's prison in Kansas to replace a cracked running track. The inmates have held several 5K races and raised more than $5,000 for local charities.

"When a warden hears about inmates running," the prison warden cracked, "the reaction is not always good."

Dubois knew nothing about the application to Jenny's Heroes, filed on his behalf by the chapter's part-time marketing specialist, Wendy McGee.

His co-workers learned about the award last week and told Dubois reporters were coming to the office for a press conference about a new advertising campaign. He wore a tie because McGee told him he had a meeting with executives from a local company.

"By the way," McGee told Dubois after the call from Jones, "we don't really have a meeting today."

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com