Don’t be alarmed when you hear the sirens and see the flashing emergency lights of the fire department in your neighbourhood Saturday.
Two local fire departments on the Saanich Peninsula are teaming up to fight hunger on Dec. 14. Firefighters will be collecting donations of food in their annual drive for the Sidney Lions Food Bank. Crews from Sidney and Central Saanich will be out in their respective communities collecting food, cash donations and other items. North Saanich firefighters will be out the following weekend.
Sidney Deputy Fire Chief Brett Mikklesen says the Sidney firefighters will be out on the trucks between 4 and 8 p.m. on Saturday.
They hope to fill bins and boxes full of food donations for the food bank. He added this will be the fourth or fifth year for the annual food drive.
Donations are also being taken at the Sidney fire hall downtown. Mikkelsen reminds people to also consider re-stocking their earthquake preparedness kits with food — and donate what’s left to the local food drive effort.
“We hope people are generous.”
“It’s always been a little bit of a competition to see which department can raise the most,” laughed Rob Syverson of the Central Saanich Fire Department, adding that there’s even a trophy — made of cans — that’s awarded to the winning department each year.
The CSFD will be dropping off brown paper bags in advance of Saturday to Central Saanich residents to give people a chance to prepare for the 14th.
“We’re going to be dropping the bags off today (Wednesday, Dec. 11) that way people can fill them and leave them out if they aren’t going to be home during the food drive,” explained Syverson.
The fire departments will also be accepting food and cash donations at their respective stations as well.
“We’ll be out from 1 to 4 p.m. in Central Saanich that day,” he said, adding that all departments are looking for canned and dry goods, personal hygiene items or cash donations.
The North Saanich fire department will be cruising the streets of Dean Park collecting donations throughout the afternoon.