The grand total amounts to 3,910 pounds of food and almost $1,700 in Foodland gift cards.
That is what the Thorold fire and emergency services managed to pull together last weekend in a campaign to benefit Community Care.
“This is our first time doing an event for the community since COVID hit. Normally it’s just volunteers from station 1 (but) it was the entire Thorold fire and emergency services who did it this year,” Danielle Ervin, a volunteer captain firefighter for Fire Station 1, said.
The food drive was held at the Foodland supermarket in Thorold.
"Todd (Marr) from Foodland allowed us to come into Foodland and to bag up groceries. He gives it to us at cost and then the public will come in and buy those bags and put them in our bin for the fire hall and then we bring everything to Community Care."
Ervin says it has been difficult not being able to give back to the community because of COVID-19.
“Everybody’s struggling because of the pandemic, so the places that reach out to us need money more than ever and we haven’t been able to fundraise, we can’t. It’s been hard.”
According to Ervin, fundraising is an essential part of being a volunteer firefighter.
“There (are) a lot of people, especially the volunteers, that join the fire department because they want to give back to their community. That social aspect side of it, where we’re raising funds for the community, is a big part of (that), where you’re not actively out fighting fires but you’re still helping out the community.”
Being a volunteer firefighter is not only about giving back, it is also about putting your life on the line for others.
“We do all of the same things that the career firefighters do. So when there’s a building on fire, all of the career firefighters and the volunteers go in. So yes, there’s 100 per cent an aspect of danger, but we train just as hard as the career firefighters do.”
Ervin herself has been a volunteer firefighter for almost 10 years and she can’t imagine quitting anytime soon.
“I’ve lived in Thorold my entire live and I love the community, and I wanted to give back. I love the firefighter department, I really do, the brotherhood and sisterhood of it, the camaraderie. When you’re training with the fire department, you have to build a level of trust with those people that you don’t normally have with your general friends. You’re trusting these people that if something goes bad in a bad situation, they’re going to take you home to your family.”
As for the fundraising activities of the volunteer firefighters, Ervin said, “Once the pandemic clears, we’ll be doing more.”