Parksville Fire Captain Mark Adelborg has his big boot ready to be filled with generous donations from the community for their 25th year doing their Fill the Boots for Food campaign. (Parksville Fire Department)

By Jordan Davidson

fill er up

‘I don’t think anything brings us more joy:’ Oceanside firefighters celebrating 25th ‘Fill the Boots’

Nov 18, 2023 | 5:50 AM

PARKSVILLE — It’s an annual Christmas tradition for Oceanside fire departments, who are celebrating 25 years of filling their boots with donations for those in need.

Last year, more than $85,000 in cash and 2,692 pounds of food were donated through the ‘Fill the Boots for Food’ drive.

Firefighter Liam Robinson said their fundraising goal each year is to raise at least one dollar more than local groups and organizations had before.

“We like to say that because I believe it’s a good thought. It’s never a competition to us to raise more money than (last) year, it’s just to raise money to support people in the community who need it more.”

Firefighters from Parksville Fire Rescue will be collecting donations on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., and again on Sunday, Nov. 19 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at various locations around town.

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Those include Thrifty Foods, Quality Foods, Save-On-Foods, Canadian Tire, and the BC Liquor Store at Wembley Mall.

Donations of new, unwrapped toys will go to the Society of Organized Services Caring for Communities at Christmas program, while the cash donations will go to the local Salvation Army food bank.

This annual campaign is a huge deal for the local Salvation Army, according to Robinson.

“The nice thing about the money compared to non-perishable food items is that they have the buying power within the grocery market. So they get approximately three times the value out of money donations compared to food donations.”

The first campaign was in 1998, when the Parksville Volunteer Fire Department, as they were known at the time, collected about 5,000 pounds of food going door to door.

The pandemic caused them to adjust to dropping off donations at a central location.

Robinson said he and all of their members are very proud to help out their community in more ways than just emergency response.

“I’ve partaken in this every single year that I’ve been with Parksville, and I don’t think anything brings us more joy as a membership than to go out and help our community in every single way that we can. It’s a big event and it brings a lot of joy to the members and the families too.”

Multiple other fire departments joined the campaign over the years, with Parksville participating in the District 69 drive with several other departments, all with the same goal in mind.

Other fire department donation times and locations
The Bow Horn Bay Fire Department is asking people to drop off donations at their station (22 Lions Way, Qualicum Beach) on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Coombs Hilliers Volunteer Fire Department is collecting donations at their #2 Station (3241 Alberni Hwy., Qualicum Beach) from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Nov. 18-19. More details on which neighborhoods they’ll be collecting from can be found here.

The Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department will be collecting donations on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Meadowood Store (1221 Meadowood Way). You can also drop off donations at the Britco trailer (230 Hobbs Rd.) Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Deep Bay Fire Department will be accepting donations on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at their hall (5031 Mountainview Rd., Bowser).

Nanoose Bay Volunteer Fire Department will be open Saturday, Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. accepting donations. Monetary donations will also be accepted at Springford Farm and Red Gab Quality Foods.

Qualicum Beach Fire Rescue will be canvassing both Nov. 18 and 19 in front of Quality Foods and the Liquor Store, as well as by the Eaglecrest sign on Saturday and in Chartwell on Sunday.

More information on where other Oceanside fire departments will be set up collecting donations can be found here.

UPDATE: Nov. 21, 2023

Parksville Fire Rescue was able to raise a total of $94,090.70 in cash for their 2023 ‘Fill the Boots for Food’ drive, with $64,680 coming from the residents of the Craig Bay neighborhood.

(Parksville Fire Rescue on Facebook)

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow