Members of the Sarnia Professional Firefighters Association slimmed down, buffed up and took off their shirts to pose for a fundraising calendar.
While copies of the Sarnia Firefighters’ Calendar have now been on sale at locations around the community since early October, the featured firefighters plan to be at Lambton Mall on Nov. 25 to sell the $20 calendars near Carol Baker Visage, one of the project’s sponsors .
It’s the first Sarnia firefighters’ fundraising calendar in 11 years, said firefighter and project organizer Trevor McCormick.
Money raised will support the Firefighters’ Community Benefit Fund, which supports a variety of local charities and community projects.
“We usually do like meat raffles, and get out and raise money to donate back to the community,” McCormick said.
But with the pandemic limiting those activities in recent years, “we got talking about doing the calendar,” he added.
The association’s previous calendar raised about $30,000 for the benefit fund, McCormick noted, “so we figured we’d take it on and try it again.”
“We had a good group of people who all said they were willing to do it.”
The participating firefighters got in shape leading up to the calendar shoot earlier this year, McCormick said.
He said they sold space on the calendar to 16 sponsors and arranged for the photo shoot at the Lambton College fire school with photographer Devon Young, who is also a city firefighter.
“We did a full day from about 7 am to 5 pm,” he said.
It included some “fun photos of everybody as a group,” along with individual photos for each month, McCormick said.
“I think it’s kind of a sharp-looking calendar,” he said. “There has been a lot of positive feedback.”
A total of 16 association members, including a female firefighter, took part, with a few doubling up in the photos for the calendar’s 14 months, McCormick said.
Josh Loranger, a city firefighter for just more than a year, posed for January.
Loranger said he took a little convincing to get him involved, “but then I was into it. It’s for the community.”
He added his family has been supportive.
“My mom has sold more calendars than I have,” Loranger said.
McCormick said 2,500 copies were printed, so there is the potential to raise more than $40,000 for the fund.
The benefit fund has supported Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sarnia-Lambton, Goodwill, Bluewater Health, Huron House Boys Home, the Inn of the Good Shepherd, Pathways Health Center for Children and others, he said.
Sales have been “pretty good” so far, he said.
Firefighters volunteered to sell them at Brigden Fair and other locations around the community, including last weekend’s at the Big Brothers Big Sisters sale.
“We raised $3,600 there,” McCormick said
He added they hope to sell calendars at the mall a few weekends between now and Christmas. Sale times and locations are posted on the Sarnia Firefighters facebook page.
They’re also available from Wellington Dental, Caryl Baker Visage, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62, AG Graphics & Signs, Jane Baker, a realtor with Re/max Sarnia Realty Inc., Manleys Basics, Blue Coast Realty Brokerage, Ironworks Health & Wellness Center and Giresi’s Pizza Factory, as well as from city firefighters.