Town of Westlock Volunteer Fire Department Lieut. Brian Hegedus surveys the town during the third annual Firefighter in the Sky event Dec. 16 at Sobeys. That day the department collected 1,007.4 pounds of food and $1,636.80, plus a bag a clothing.
Look! Up in the sky!
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
No, it was Lieut. Brian Hegedus of the Town of Westlock Volunteer Fire Department, who took to the heavens Dec. 16 for third annual Firefighter in the Sky, the grand finale of the department’s efforts to collect food and funds for the Westlock and District Food Bank and clothing for Family and Community Support Services’ Coats for Kids program.
“It got pretty cold up there. My body was warm but the boots we wear don’t have a lot of insulation,” he said. “I couldn’t move around to keep the blood flowing fast enough, but I just powered through. I wanted to see how much we could get.
“I enjoy doing it and I’m looking forward to next year already.”
Braving wind gusts up to 43 km/h and a temperature of -11.3 C, Hegedus climbed up the fire department’s ladder truck, as he has every year for the last three, as an incentive for shoppers to drop off food, clothing or money at depots set up at both grocery stores in town every Wednesday and Sunday. This year, the campaign started Nov. 25.
Hegedus lasted four hours and could have finished when the department collected $1,000 after the first few hours, but he opted to remain to see how much more they could collect.
At the end of the day, the department had filled a bag of clothing and collected 1,007.4 pounds of food and $1,636.80.
In total they collected $2,606.80, 2,307.86 pounds of food and seven bags of clothing, notably lower than their 2017 total haul of $3,683.50, 4,318.9 pounds of food and 14 bags of winter clothing.
In 2016 they totalled $4,339.80, 2,647.2 pounds of food and 21 bags of winter clothes.
While the haul was less than in previous years, Hegedus expressed his thanks to the community for coming together in support of the needy.
Hegedus said he was driven to brave the freezing winds each winter because he understands the difficulty some families have making ends meet around the holidays and wanted to help relieve the pressure on them.
“There’s always a family in need, especially right now,” he said. “That’s why I keep doing it. I just want to help them. I have a good team behind me who is toughing it out as much as I am, we all have the same goals.
“I know what it’s like to grow up in a struggling family, so I just want to help.”
Though he noted the view is nice too.
“I’m above all the trees and the buildings, I can see pretty much everything from the elevators to the seed cleaning plants,” he said. “Though it’s a different sky line now without the water tower.”
Hegedus said he wanted to give an extra thanks to the community for rallying around the cause.
“Shout out to Westlock for stepping up and for my team that was with me for every visit we made — they were a real help.”
