Volunteer firefighters sell sweet treats for vital gear
PONTOTOC COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) – Volunteer Fire Department Chiefs from across Pontotoc County are making sure cases of shortbread cookies are ready to sell.
A shipment of ten thousand boxes of “Firemen Cookies” has just arrived. The shortbread cookies will be sold, for eight dollars a box. District 5 Supervisor Randy Ray came up with the unique fundraising idea, as a way to help volunteer fire departments with expenses that grants didn’t cover.
‘We can sell the cookies, take the money when we get it and we can buy anything we need for the fire department, much of our grants are limited to different items we can buy, based on what type of grant we get, so this gives us money to purchase whatever we need to purchase,” said Pontotoc Fire Chief Brad White.
Volunteer firefighters will sell the Mississippi baked cookies. Proceeds are split based on how many boxes each department sells.
The sales will start just in time for Fire Prevention Month, in October.
‘We will have schools come around to fire stations, and day cares, go to different schools and talk to kids about fire safety,” Chief White said.
As volunteer firefighters and chiefs are out selling boxes of Firemen Cookies, the fundraising campaign can also increase awareness of the important role volunteer fire departments play, while also helping with recruiting and retention.
“You don’t want to spend all this money on them, train them and they leave. So recruiting will be promoted, we are not just going to take young, people. We will take older people, anyone who feels like volunteering come down and do something good for the community,” said Algoma Volunteer Fire Department Chief Larry Rape.
The Firemen Cookies will be sold through individual volunteer firefighters until all ten thousand boxes are gone.
Fire chiefs from neighboring counties have expressed an interest in similar cookie fundraisers for their departments.
