Fire Department Supports Dollar A Day Foundation July 15, 2023

On Saturday, July 15, 2023 (back up rain date Sunday, July 16) at Bowring Park 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Dollar A Day, St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJFRD) and IAFF Local 1075 are raising the bucket for mental health and addictions care as part of the Fighting Chance program. Fighting Chance, created by the Dollar A Day Foundation in partnership with the SJRFD and IAFF Local 1075, is designed to engage first responders in a meaningful way. 

This program will provide support for mental health and addictions programs to ensure they have the resources and support they need to take care of their own. As champions for mental health, we want to help first responders support mental health and addictions in the communities they serve. 

Various SJRFD apparatus will be parked across from the splash pad and members of the SJRFD along with their families will be in attendance to talk about what they do during a shift and show the equipment that will be on display. There will also be a bouncy castle and a dunk tank on site for some added fun. We are joining efforts to raise awareness and funds for mental health and addictions challenges for first responders and individuals within the communities we serve. 

Alan Doyle, Co-Founder of Dollar A Day Foundation explains Fighting Chance as “A cool idea we came up with to partner with some first responders in our communities. It is a simple goal, to help them help each other in getting the mental health and addictions support they need to get back to work and back helping those in the communities they serve. These folks truly are superheroes – they are the soccer and hockey coaches, school volunteers; true community leaders in every sense of the word and if we can help one of them get back doing the critical work they do it makes a significant impact on our community as a whole. It is an honour to help support this work and to help support them getting back to what they do so heroically.”

Fire Chief Sherry Colford is pleased at the response from community leaders and public figures who have stepped up to be a part of this event in the past two years. “Our department works hard in building the skills and expertise of its emergency responders, but they need a solid foundation. The Fighting Chance will hopefully bring awareness and support to a very real issue for emergency responders and eliminate the stigma of mental health and addiction challenges that many of them face. Our firefighters and dispatchers are there for the community every day doing what they do best, but as a community we need to be there for them to ensure they are given the solid foundation they need,” says Chief Colford.