PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – With the summer months comes a lot of summer events and activities, including ice cream socials, which not only serve up the fun, but also help to support those who serve the community in a big way.
Chief Ron Utt of the East Wood Volunteer Fire Department and Chief Mike Chevalier of the Little Hocking Volunteer Fire Department say that ice cream socials aren’t just fun events for the community, they are also vital to volunteer departments.
Chief Chevalier explains:
“Almost all volunteer fire departments have to rely on donations and money-making proceeds to be able to do their day-to-day operation that supplements the money that they get through their government agency through contracts and that, but all the volunteer fire departments depend greatly on ice cream sources and things to help fund their department.”
Both men explain that the donations and proceeds made from these events help the departments to continue running smoothly by helping to pay for necessary equipment and training among other things.
Chief Utt adds:
“[East Wood VFD] only gets money through donations, plus the fire fee, so any kind of money that we can get in to help us buy our equipment and gear a set of turn out gear and the air pack and all that is $10 thousand to set up a firefighter. The gear is good for 10 years, the air packs are only good for 15 years, give or take, and then they all have to be replaced, and that’s one set, so we’re talking a lot of money that takes just for that, and our insurance is expensive. We do $6 thousand a quarter just for our liability insurance for the fire department, so any type of money that we can get to help us stay in service so we can, help our community and their common need is very beneficial.”
The chiefs also explain that due to the lower numbers at local volunteer fire departments, the ice cream socials are also a time for recruitment opportunities and learning more about what goes on at the station.
Chevalier says that Washington County is putting a lot of emphasis on recruiting new members.
“We just had a recruitment day here recently and all of the ice cream socials will have members available to answer questions, show you the equipment that we have to offer and to try to get people interested in volunteering their time.”
Chief Utt says that during his department’s ice cream social there will be plenty of opportunity for community members to meet with the firefighters and learn more about what they do.
“They see our gear, meet us, maybe hear some of the stories about fires and talk about some of the calls we’ve been on, and we always hope that maybe we’ll get somebody from the community that might be interested in giving it a try. Seeing if it’s something they want to do.”
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