In Schuylkill County, all the fire companies are volunteer, which means they rely on their communities to support them. All the support and funds that the fire departments receive, goes towards new equipment, vehicles, and other items to keep the community safe.
On September 8th, 2018 the American Hose Company in Ashland held their annual Chicken BBQ dinner. The fundraiser sold near 400 platters and helped raise nearly $2,000.
The BBQ dinner was started in the early 2000's by it's members at the time. All the cooking for the dinner was done "in-house" by department members, with the Women's Auxiliary providing desserts and helping serve.
Members begin preparing the food at 2:00 am to have the platters ready for serving at noon.
As the fundraiser grew each year, the department ran out of room to handle the demand for cooking all of the orders.
What started as cooking the chicken in the backyard of Chief Groody's home now has grown to a permanent pit at Memorial Field in Ashland. When the pit was first built, members would haul 4 truck loads of block and all the cooking supplies from the firehouse to the field each year.
When the BBQ first began, Gordon Fire Company provided their experience and also let them borrow the cooking equipment that they were unable to afford at the time.
From the start, Groody Catering in Ashland, also assisted. The American Hose has used Groody's to purchase the food supplies, ingredients, and chickens for the dinner.
When the BBQ was moved to Memorial Field and a bbq pit was built with the permanent roofing, Joseph Woodward, a long-time member, donated a shed to store the supplies. Brian Rich, of Pottsville Materials, provided materials and rock for the shed base, while Ash Resources provided trucks for hauling. The shed reduced the workload greatly which stopped the hauling of all the cooking equipment and supplies each year.
Chief Groody thanks all of the members of the fire department for their time and dedication over the years as well as the citizens of Ashland and the surrounding communities for purchasing dinners. Without all of the help and support they received over the years, the American Hose Company, wouldn't be where they are today.
The American Hose will have more fundraisers through the rest of 2018 which includes their monthly gun raffle and their Christmas Toy raffle.
