Volunteer drive a success

Published Aug 14, 2012 at 5:33 pm (Updated Aug 15, 2012)

Photos

Women battling or who have beaten cancer and families of those lost to the disease sign the Guardians of the Ribbon's pink fire truck to show support for the cause. Photo by Scott Baker

AUGUSTA — For the past two weekends, the Sussex County Volunteer Fireman's Association has had a volunteer recruitment center set up at the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show. “I think it was successful,” Hamburg Fire Department Assistant Chief Charlie Zweigle said during a recent telephone interview, adding that the association as a whole “made some good contacts.”
The county association, which is made up of each of Sussex County's 27 fire departments and 41 fire houses, is looking for emergency and non-emergency volunteers to add numbers to what is currently a “countywide shortage of volunteers,” according to Zweigle.
To that end, the organization joined forced with the Northern New Jersey chapter of Guardians of the Ribbon to try and bolster the county's flagging volunteer ranks.
“This is the first time anything like this has ever been done,” said Zweigle of the combined effort of the 27 Sussex County municipalities. “We are just trying to let people know how desperate we are for numbers,” he added, making all of the contacts they made that much more important. While there is no way of telling yet how many of the contacts made at the fair will become volunteers, the countywide organization is pleased with the outcome.

Special truck draws a crowd

The Guardians of the Ribbon brought one of their signature pink fire trucks to the event. According to the non-profit organization, the pink fire trucks serve as a memorial to women who have lost their battle with cancer as well as an inspiration to those still fighting their battle with the disease.
The group invites women who have beaten or are battling cancer — as well as family members of those who have lost that battle — to sign their trucks.
“The opportunity the Sussex (County) firefighters gave us to be with them at the fair put us in touch with so many amazing people," said Marianne Ecanosti, who is the organization's secretary and its Hudson County representative. The Guardians of the Ribbon sells T-shirts at events such as this to raise money to run and maintain their pink fire trucks — “Daria” and “Gemma” — and to put back into the community by using funds to help North Jersey women battling against cancer.

— Scott Baker