GREENFIELD — Two Greenfield girls have taken the fire department’s plea for more staff and funding to heart, and have planned a fundraiser as a show of support for local first-responders.
Ten-year-old Addison Brown and her sister Savannah, 7, are hosting a bowl-a-thon Friday evening at Strike Force Lanes in Greenfield.
Money raised will bolster the Greenfield Fire Territory’s plans to put a firefighters’ memorial outside the fire station on South Street.
The project — a three-stone monument that would carry the names of local fallen firefighters — was announced in 2016, and the fire department has been seeking donations ever since to bring the memorial to fruition. It’s expected to cost about $40,000, officials said when the plans were announced.
Addison and Savannah originally wanted to help the Greenfield Fire Territory with funding to hire new firefighters, Stacy Brown, the girls’ mother, told the Daily Reporter.
Brown happened to be in the crowd at the summertime Greenfield City Council meeting at which a representative from the Hancock County Professional Firefighters, the union organization representing local career firefighters, gave a presentation about staffing levels within the Greenfield Fire Territory.
That presentation has since ignited a debate: the union says Greenfield needs to hire at least 16 new firefighters to keep up with the industry standards; and the city says the department is strapped for cash and can’t afford so many new hires.
Brown said she came home after the city council meeting and mentioned the presentation and the firefighters’ concerns to her husband; the girls overheard.
“And they immediately wanted to help,” Brown said.
Addison and Savannah quickly learned that fundraising the money to hire new firefighters would be a major undertaking as union officials have estimated hiring the 16 firefighters they say the department needs would cost about $2 million annually.
So, undeterred, they pivoted and asked the firefighters what they could do show their support for the department, Brown said. The firefighters suggested a fundraiser for the future memorial, and the girls eagerly started planning.
Now, flyers for their cash-only bowling event are posted around the community. The fundraiser will take place from 6-10 p.m. Oct. 26 at Strike Force Lanes, 1539 W. Main St., Greenfield.
Children ages 16 and under and firefighters from any department in the area who shows their department identification can bowl for $10. All other adults can bowl for $15.
Nearly 70 local businesses have signed on to provide donations or items to be raffled and auctioned off throughout the night.
The Browns are no strangers to philanthropy within the community.
Addison, with Savannah at her side, hosted two give-back events at Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup kitchen in the last year.
The first, in December, they gave away about 100 gift bags to soup kitchen patrons that were stuffed with new gloves, hats and socks. Then, in April, the girls returned to the soup kitchen to handout Easter baskets with necessities like toothbrushes, toothpaste, lip balm and other toiletries.
Now, they’re focusing their efforts on the fire department because they’re well aware of the dangerous and important jobs they have in the community, Brown said.
“When they saw this opportunity, they jumped at it,” Brown said of her daughters. “(Firefighters) risk their lives for the community. It’s our job to do whatever we can to help.”