Today kicks off the second weekend of the Columbia County Fire Rescue Annual Boot Drive.
Fire rescue personnel were out last week, May 4-6, at several locations throughout the county. As of Monday, May 8, the boot drive had collected $33,799.00, said Cassidy Harris, public relations manager for Columbia County.
Fire Chief Jeremy Wallen previously told The Augusta Press when the boot drive started, that it it was held in-line with the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, and people would bring their donations to the Augusta Mall. But that later changed because the desire was to collect for local organizations.
“I think the reason we changed up is because we’re between markets, and they wouldn’t let us be in the Georgia market,” Wallen previously said. “So, we weren’t collecting locally; we were funding Columbia, S.C. and those operations. Now, they did come down as far as MCG at the time, so it’s not like we were totally giving it away; it’s a national foundation. But we really started wanting to do something that we could be more participatory with and not just hand off money. We wanted to be involved.”
The money raised over the two weekends will be split between two organizations. The first is the Burn Foundation of America, which is located near Doctors Hospital and helps families of burn victims. The organization runs housing and provides food and some medications to families of burn victims and firefighters who have come in when they are burned.
“They let us know when they’re being brought in, and we try to go over with them and greet and spend time with the family,” Wallen said. “We’ll even have meals for them at the fire station and just bring them over and be a part of that fire community. We’ve always been very supportive of them. I have members on their Board of Directors that help with that organization.”
The other organization that boot drive benefits is Columbia County Community Connections, Wallen said. The organization has multiple programs that benefit children in Columbia County, and kids from there participate in the Shop With a Firefighter program each Christmas.
The boot drive held May 11-13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Kroger in Grovetown, Mullins Colony and area Wal-Marts.
Following the boot drive, checks will be presented to the two organizations at a future Columbia County Board of Commissioners meeting, Harris said.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com
