Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee Emergency Services will be hosting a zero contact charity car wash on Sept. 5 at the Napanee fire station on 66 Advance Ave.
The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with proceeds going towards GNES annual Christmas toy drive and food baskets.
Unable to raise funds throughout most of the year, the hope is the car wash will help bring in some much needed money. Their usual car wash in the Denny’s parking lot had to be postponed earlier this year.
“This was just a way to get some funds together to make sure that we’re going to be able to continue (with the toy drive),” said GNES fire prevention officer Kevin Duncan. “We started the trend over the last 10 years. I went to the chief with this suggestion because we either have to get more money into that account or we’re not going to be able to do it. I always leave a little bit in there but I don’t have near enough to keep it going unless I do some fundraising.”
Duncan says at this point he’s not sure if they’ll be able to host their annual Grand Slam breakfast fundraiser that is also held at Denny’s.
Working with local agencies such as the Napanee Salvation Army, Hospice Lennox and Addington and KFLA Family and Children Services, the money raised goes towards helping local families in need during the holiday season.
Along with raising money for the toy drive, Duncan says the car wash is a way for members of GNES to get back to interacting with the community, albeit at a safe distance.
“It’s a good way to reach out to the community,” said Duncan. “We talked about doing a barbecue but I didn’t want to get into that because then we’re into getting close to people. So we’ll do the car wash and hopefully we’ll get some good donations and it’ll build up a little bit of cash for the upcoming season which I suspect is going to be an even bigger need this year.”
The cost of the car wash will be by donation.