FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The Fort St. John Professional Fire Fighters Association held their charity ball for the first time in two years on Saturday and raised over $150,000.
Brent Morgan, president of the charitable society, says “the evening was amazing” and guests brought some positive energy with them.
“Everybody was very excited to be allowed to come out and have a good time and visit with friends, have some dinner, dance and raise some money for a great cause.”
Compared to previous years, Morgan says the most significant difference is that tickets sold out in 32 hours back in March.
“People were ready,” he said.
There were many items for guests to bid on, with the proceeds going to the society.
The biggest auction item was a trip to Nashville, Morgan says, which they managed to sell twice.
Morgan also mentioned that they auctioned off a fire helmet, which people would donate back and would then be auctioned off again for the highest bid.
Funds raised will go towards the medical travel fund and other programs the society supports, including the BCPFFA Burn Fund and the hot lunch program for the school districts.
Morgan adds that, during the pandemic, the medical travel cases were postponed due to hospitals not allowing people to get surgeries that were considered non-life-altering, so that expense was ultimately saved.
“We still had amazing support from the community that knew we couldn’t have fundraisers and still donated money to us.”
Morgan wants to thank the community for their continued support.
“We just want to thank the community how great they are. How they’re always willing to step up and not just support our charity, but every charity that runs in Fort St. John, it’s just an amazing community, and there’s always support backing every charity. We just want to thank everybody.”