They risk their lives on the job everyday and in their free time they build homes for the poor in third world countries.
This is something that Richmond’s finest - the Richmond Fire Fighters Department - has been doing for years.
Riverside Banquet Halls decided to put on an event to give a boost to Richmond’s finest’s fundraising efforts. Over 250 guests packed the Riverside Grand Ballroom on Sunday, July 6 to help raise over $3,400 for the Richmond Fire Fighters Global Village Project. Ticket sales from the event, a 20-item silent auction and raffle proceeds all went to the worthwhile event. By raising funds for this great cause, Riverside Banquet Halls hopes others will join in to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those less fortunate than the rest of our community.
The Richmond Fire Fighters were on site along with one of their fire engines for the event. One guest commented: “I really wanted to come to this event to help the firefighters. They do such a great job for our community that I wanted to come and show my support for all they do.”
The firefighters greeted the guests and informed them about their ‘5 for 5’ raffle. This is where guests had the opportunity to win 5 fire fighters for 5 hours for only $5 dollars! The winner of this draw will be announced in September.
In early 2009, 20 members of Richmond Fire-Rescue will be traveling to El Salvador to build homes.
“Phenomenal turnout! The charitable donations were above and beyond our expectations, the hosts really took good care of us and we are proud to be community partners with Riverside Banquet Halls,” said Richmond Fire Officer Kirby Graeme.
The Richmond Fire Fighters have participated in two building projects in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. They traveled to Sri Lanka in 2006 and Thailand in 2007.
In both cases 24 members of the department worked hard fundraising over a three-year period and raising awareness about the project and Habitat for Humanity's cause. (www.habitat.org)
In these projects, each member of the team went on the two-week building project using their own vacation time and paid for all their own in-country expenses (meals, travel to and from the work site, accommodations, etc.) As a result of their fundraising the total that they donated to Habitat for Humanity in both projects was $74,800.
The night was full of great food, entertainment, and a silent auction, which for some meant a shopping spree. Guests enjoyed a Bhangra dance item and a break dancing item.
The silent auction had caused family members to bid against one another. The most contested items of the day were donated by Mcdonald’s restaurant: two hockey card sets framed, which caused a bidding frenzy
For the past few years, Riverside Banquet Halls has been holding ‘Open Houses’ to showcase their services, now they decided it was time to give back. “Everything came together perfectly, lots of people reached deep into their pockets to donate to this great cause; we are committed to helping community organizations and look forward to help more in the future,” said Sanjeev Ghirra, Purchasing and Sales Manager. They have been serving the community for over 10 years.
The highlight of the night was when Bobby Ghirra, General Manager, announced that the Ghirra family and Riverside Banquet Halls would donate an additional $500 on this momentuous night and the total funds raised went from $2900 to $3400. The guests cheered as the firefighters received a big boost for a great cause.
(Contributed)
(Photo by Lindsay Bayes)
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