Mineral City, Ohio - Mineral City Volunteer firefighters are hoping to raise some funds and save their supporters some money with an event they’re holding this weekend.

Firefighter Dave Collier says they’re having a grocery and merchandise auction at the station this Saturday featuring an array of food and miscellaneous items for a deeply discounted prices.

“What it is, we will be offering food and merchandise, anything from frozen food, canned goods, non-perishables, and then the merchandise side, it really depends on what our suppliers come up with,” he says. “We deal with some wholesalers that bring in truckloads of stuff to sell. In previous auctions, I’ve seen them offer anything from jewelry to toys, household goods, bedding, all kinds of different things.”

Collier says the department receives a percentage of the proceeds from each item sold, along with 100 percent of the funds raised from their food stand and a 50/50 auction. He says this goes into the general fund to help offset the cost of training and equipment purchases.

“The fire department, actually, the fundraising is done by the nonprofit portion, and the department itself is run by the village, so what we’re able to do on the fundraising end helps offset some of the cost to taxpayers,” he says. “If we’re able to buy a set of gear, that’s over $3,000 cost to taxpayers if we pay it out of tax dollars, so if we can use fundraising funds for it, that definitely offsets those things.”

Collier says they have these auctions several times a year, mainly as a service to the public.

“The food and merchandise isn’t one of our bigger fundraisers. The food portion of it’s almost a service to the community because they get some pretty good rates on food and get some discounts for the grocery purchases, so we do that more as a community service, and then any funds we do raise on it are a bonus,” he explains.

The auction starts 4 pm at the station on South High Street, with doors opening at 3. Collier says they will be doing this again on March 9th and using their portion of the proceeds to help a longtime supporter.

“We’ll actually be turning that one into a benefit for a local resident, for Keith McClintock. He’s the operator of Keith’s Towing in Mineral City, and he’s had some health issues over the past several months, and so we’ll actually be hosting that as a benefit for him,” he says.

The fire department is made up of 15 volunteer firefighters and services Mineral City, Sandy Township and surrounding areas.

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV