Firefighters Charity Ball to support medical travel and burn funds

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Brent Morgan, the president of the Fort St John Firefighters Charitable Society and an organizer for the upcoming Firefighters Charity Ball. (Brent Morgan, Facebook)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Money from this year’s annual Fort St. John Firefighters Charity Ball will go towards helping people dealing with severe burns and travel expenses for medical treatments.

Brent Morgan, the president of the Fort St. John Firefighters Charitable Society, explained in an interview during the March 21st episode of This Week in the Peace that money from this year’s ball will go towards a “medical travel fund” program.

“We have an online application for anyone that’s looking to go elsewhere for medical issues that have come up,” Morgan said. “If they’re short on funds, we will provide accommodations, cab rides from the airport to the medical appointment and back, per diems for food and travel, whether that’s fuel or airfare.”

According to Morgan, the program has few restrictions, and anyone who needs to leave Fort St. John for treatment can apply.

“It’s for any reason,” Morgan said. “Any medical reason that people have to travel outside of Fort St. John to get the treatment they require, and maybe they’ve fallen on hard times, or they just didn’t budget for this and it put them into some hardship.”

Another program Morgan said the charity ball will support is the BC Professional Firefighters’ Burn Fund, which helps burn survivors who have been through traumatic events.

“We have accommodation suites down in Vancouver, and it’s pretty central between [the BC Children’s Hospital] and [Vancouver General Hospital], and if people are traveling [more than] 150 kilometres, they can stay at the building,” he said.

Last year’s charity ball raised over $166,000, breaking the previous record for the most raised at the annual event.

Morgan said he would be happy to break last year’s record again, adding the event is reliant on the community’s support.

“We’re reliant on the generosity of the community, which I can’t speak enough of, what this community has done and supported,” Morgan said. “Not just so much our charity, but all the charities within the community.”

Tickets for this year’s ball will go on sale on April 1st. The event is scheduled for May 3rd.

To view the full interview with Morgan, look below.