A Merrickville-Wolford resident made a generous donation to the Merrickville Fire Department [MFD] last Tuesday to help in the purchase of a trailer for their UTV. Jane Graham raised $820 for the MFD by selling soup for lunch at the Montague Town Hall, where her husband, Jim Hunter, works as the Chief Building Official. For $5, Jane provides a bowl of homemade soup and some bread, usually made fresh by Jim. She sells her soup one day a week, from October to March, when the days are cold and the municipal employees in Montague welcome a hot homemade lunch.
Jane has been running her soup fundraiser for a number of years, always investing the money back into the community. This year, she heard about the trailer for which the Merrickville Firefighters Association was raising money, and thought it would be an excellent cause to support. “I heard about the trailer, and I thought that would be a nice specific thing to give it to,” she says.
The trailer is the last part of the MFD’s Rural Response Program, which will help them respond to emergencies in remote areas. The Merrickville Firefighters Association has been raising money for the Rural Response Program for several years. Through their fundraising efforts, they have been able to buy a brush truck with a patient skid unit and water tank, as well as a UTV with a patient rescue unit. The trailer will ensure that they will be able to transport the UTV to where they need to use it off-road. The Rural Response Program is very important for the MFD, as they are responsible for responding to events that happen in roughly 2.4 hectares of Limerick Forest. “It’s very exciting to move on with the program,” says Acting Fire Chief, Brad Cole.
With Jane’s donation, Brad says they are very close to raising the $6,000 needed to purchase the trailer. “It is very exciting to have the support of our community and local residents,” he says about Jane’s donation. “We are hoping to have it this year.”
