Upriver residents raise funds for Bayshore Fire
Residents from Upriver RV Resort have presented the Bayshore Fire and Rescue District with checks totaling nearly $9,000.
“They presented actually two checks, the first for $8,500 and then another for $491,” said Bayshore Fire Chief Lawrence “Larry” Nisbet.
Members of that community do numerous fund raisers in just a mere few weeks to give their local station money and have been doing so for many years, much to the gratitude of Nisbet and his firefighters and staff.
“When they handed me that first check I was speechless and almost emotional because these are people that only spend part of their time down here and they take care of it to provide us so much community support. And with budgets as tight and reduced as they are, their generosity has enabled us to have equipment that keeps us modern, repaired and protected and assures the safety of all of our personnel.
“When we interact with this group it is almost like interacting with your family.”
The department does visit Upriver often. Just last week they took their fire trucks to the community’s annual parade, and have had firefighters judge a chili-cook off that was part of the fund-raising effort.
The whole department benefits from these generous donations, and so does the community at large, said Nisbet.
“Last year’s donations footed the cost of 13 of our firefighters in state-of-the art gear.”
Now their goal is to have both of their pumpers equipped the same.
“What we are going to use this money for is to purchase equipment that will be placed on a pumper that we will take delivery on in about 30 days. To be cost effective, we bought a demo model,” he added.
“This truck will be utilized to improve our capabilities; specifically to respond in our rural areas where they are serviced by non-county maintained roads. The nice thing about this truck is it is 4-wheel drive and it will enable us to make sure that we can get a fire truck to those areas during the rainy season when those roads are subject to flooding.”
Neil McLean is the fund-raising chairman and Myrna Carlson is the activities director for Upriver RV Resort.
“The residents work hard and really enjoy all of the events we do as part of the fund-raising,” said Carlson.
They make individual donations and many have their own fund-raisers within the main fund-raiser, such as a barn dance, a pulled pork dinner, and the chili cook-off.
“Basically we do all this in two weeks,” said McLean. “I have five different sections in the resort area, and I have a team in charge in each section. We do door-to-door solicitation, and then we have all the special events. Everyone just opens their wallets for this.”
This is his third year as chairman of the fund-raising effort. He said the financial support is so popular because of the community’s awareness of the incredibly quick response time Bayshore Fire has had in their and other local communities.
“They have saved several lives here and in other areas of North Fort Myers.”
Like the chief, he said Upriver Resort residents feel a special bond with the Fire Department. “They are part of our community, like family.”