MOUNTVILLE, Pa. — As COVID-19 continues to impact our usual Summer events, Mountville Fire Company in Lancaster County hosted their second food truck festival of the year to compensate for not being able to put on their regular carnival to raise funds for the department.
The annual event usually brings in just under $20,000 that funds utility costs each year.
"The mortgage is still due, the truck payments are still due. When you're talking about a piece of apparatus that is hundreds of thousands of dollars or a building that's easily half-a-million, we have to pay those bills," Peter Taraborelli, Public Information Officer for the department said.
The group raised about $13,000 in their first food truck event, which required people to drive through Froelich Park. This go around, attendees walked right up to the food trucks as Lancaster County is in the Green Phase of reopening.
Each vendor gives between 15-20% of their overall sales to the fire company.
Mountville Fire doesn't only serve Mountville Borough. They respond to calls in Columbia and East Petersburg boroughs as well as Manor, East and West Hempfield townships. They often respond to calls in Lancaster City as well, when they reach two-alarm status and higher. All of that work takes its toll over the years.
"Utilities, maintenance on the vehicles, we have a roof that needs to be replaced," Taraborelli said. "We have a parking lot that hasn't been repaved since the 80s. There's a lot of things that go into maintaining a fire station."
Still to come is the annual fund drive for the fire company as well. They have yet to send out the usual letters asking for donations because of the struggles of those in and around the borough due to COVID-19.
"We've been holding off because we know people are unemployed, we know people are hurting financially - so we didn't want to send out letters asking for funds at this time," Taraborelli said.
But those letters will go out in the next couple of weeks in an effort to raise around $60,000 to continue to fund the company, which is not taxpayer funded. Grants, investments and help from other foundations largely funds the 35-man fire company, with these donations filling in the gaps.
If you can't donate financially, Taraborelli suggests you donate your time to your local fire company to help out. There are a variety of volunteer roles that need filling all year long, from simply handling a Facebook account to running the website and more. Contact your local department to find out how you can help.
Taraborelli said other fire companies have reached out to Mountville asking for advice on how to run their own festival to raise funds. So, if you have a usual event with a local fire department, check out their social media or website to see if they're replacing it with a new event that would help raise funds as well.