Cambria County food store hosts Firefighter Appreciation Day

CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — Ken’s BiLo grocery store in Northern Cambria partnered with local fire and EMS companies for its first-ever Firefighter Appreciation Day on Saturday.

Firefighters and other first responders were able to engage with customers while also receiving a donation of just over $25,000 from the food store and Pennsylvania Skill.

Ken’s BiLo owner Ken Gibson said he wanted to have a way to both thank and help local departments as volunteer fire companies continue face challenges with rising expenses and a lack of volunteers.

“If they’re not at a fire, how do you know they’re volunteer firemen?” Gibson said. “You don’t. But to come to a place like this, they get to interact with our customers, customers get to come up and see what they’re all about, even just to say thank you to these guys.”

“Stuff we have costs a lot of money to run, and funds are kind of tight with the area,” Vice President of the Spangler Fire Company Donald Eagler said. “COVID really put a damper on everything for everyone.”

Guests enjoyed some food, with all profits going right back to the departments, while checking out fire trucks inside and out and learning helpful fire prevention tips.

“The kids obviously love it, they like sitting inside the trucks,” Hope Fire Company firefighter Shawn Veneskey said. “They like the fire prevention stuff, the little helmets we give out, you’ll see them running around with their little helmets on.”

Veneskey also mentioned fire safety and prevention is more important now than ever.

“Houses burn much, much faster now than what they used to,” Veneskey said. “So having the proper plan to get out, having the smoke detectors working in your house, and being able to escape your house in time help us a lot, because if you’re already out when we get there, then that makes our jobs a whole lot easier.”

Eagler said it’s also a great recruiting tool, too.

“We spark a little interest and say, ‘Come down to the fire house, we’ll show you around,’ and we get them interested,” Eagler said. “If you’re a young kid, it also helps towards college. You get scholarships for this. It looks good on a resumé, too.”

If you missed out, Ken’s BiLo is having another appreciation day next Saturday, May 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their Patton location at 503 Railroad Ave.