From our news services
Instead of their monthly lunch/dinner fundraiser regularly scheduled for Saturday, May 30, the Swan Quarter Volunteer Fire Department (SQVFD) will host a chili dinner from 5 to 6 p,m. that day.
Following the dinner, the community is invited to stay for a live auction fundraiser from 6 to 8 p.m.
Ray Stocks Auctions of Plymouth will provide the auction services.
Auction items have been provided by the Hyde County community and many SQVFD supporters.
As many readers are aware, North Carolina volunteer fire departments are having a difficult time staying afloat financially, as is the SQVFD.
Fire Chief Jeffrey Stotesberry explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic they weren’t able to have their lunch/dinners for quite a while, which really hurt. When they began to hold dinners again, attendance was down substantially and remains low.
“Before COVID we had over 300 attendees,” he said. “Now, we don’t even have 200 attendees. Even the amount of donations that we receive has dropped. Not because the community doesn’t want to support us, but people are dealing with rising costs in their day-to-day life for things like food, gasoline, utilities and taxes. They have to cut back their spending somewhere just to survive.”
The idea of a community auction as a fundraiser is something new for the company.
“We want to thank Ray Stocks for donating his auctioneering services and also the many folks who have donated items to the cause,” Stotesberry said.
Keeping a rural volunteer fire department funded has always been difficult.
Even though the firemen and women are volunteers and have never received a paycheck for their service, the departments still have other essential overhead expenses such as utilities, fuel for their trucks, repairs and maintenance, and purchase of equipment. Insurance costs are probably their top expense.
Former SQVFD Assistant Fire Chief Bennett Emory shares how the SQVFD began in 1971.
“Twelve men, the original charter members of the SQVFD, each signed a bank note for $600 with the former East Carolina Bank,” he said. “It was a blanket note for $7,200 and none of the men could get off the note until it was all paid.”
He said they worked on the building (which had a dirt floor for many years) as they could, and they had lots of fish fries to keep the SQVFD going.
