October is one of the most important months of the year when it comes to benefitting a cause.
Individuals, organizations and towns are banning together to raise money for foundations that help in the fight against breast cancer during October, Breast Cancer Awareness month.
The township fire department is doing its part with Paint The Town Pink,’ the culmination of a year-long initiative.
“Our fundraising effort is really a year-long thing,” Fire Chief Jim Clancy said. “It’s expanded. It’s taken a life of its own, but the main focus is still in October.”
Around the fire department, stations and fire trucks are decked out in pink and firefighters are wearing pink on their uniforms, whether it be a pink bow/ribbon or pink clothing. What began as department members simply putting pink breast-cancer awareness stickers on their helmets has evolved into a massive fundraising effort that has resulted in tens of thousands of dollars for local charities and organizations.
The department originally worked with the Virtua Breast Care Comfort Fund after its business administrator Jean Dietrick, a seven-year breast cancer survivor, chose it in 2011. Recently fire personnel, alongside the Comfort Fund, have donated money for a paramedic scholarship named after former Virtua paramedic and breast cancer victim Becky Scott.
“We made the decision as a committee and as a fire company that we were doing so well with supporting the Virtua Comfort Fund that we were going to expand and support both,” Clancy explained. “Now, we’re able to provide donations to both charities that are topping the donations we made to the original charity when we first started.”
Some of the biggest department events in October to boost fundraising include a car show, shirt sales, a dine and donate and a chili cookoff toward the end of the month. Clancy described those events as enabling visitors to unwind for the day while supporting an important cause,
Last year alone, the department was able to raise and donate $20,000 for two charities it currently supports. The goal this year is to meet and exceed that total.
The department’s next event is Thursday’s Dine and Donate at SweetWater Bar and Grill.
