DANBY, N.Y. (WENY) -- For decades, the Danby Volunteer Fire Company has hosted various fundraisers to help the department with whatever they need. This time, firefighters hosted their monthly pancake breakfast to raise funds for new EMS equipment.

On Sunday morning, dozens of people came to Danby for their choice of a sit-down or drive-thru pancake breakfast. In the past, the event had been sit down but, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Danby Volunteer Fire Company made the switch to drive-thru. After the reception from the community, they decided to switch to both.

To kick things off, members of the DVFC headed to a call first thing in the morning and then turned right back around to prep, cook, and serve hearty breakfasts to the community.

For just $12, guests can get pancakes, french toast, eggs, potatoes, and sausage. Plus, it all benefits a good cause.

"We do one every third Sunday from November through March," said John Gaden, the fire chief of the Danby Volunteer Fire Company. "We use it to raise money for fire equipment. We're now working on raising money for replacing some of our EMS equipment."

Chief Gaden says the department is funded through the Danby Fire District, however, the more money they can fundraise, the more they can ease finances on local taxpayers.


Volunteers and their loved ones came out to help run the event, including some younger faces. Two girls, Liliahana and Skylar, both age 11, have family involvement in the department and chose to come volunteer and serve as waitresses.

"We don't really do much at her house when we hang out, so we always are free, and so we just came here for the fun of it," said Liliahana.

Skylar added, "Yeah, we figured since we literally have nothing to do at home, that we'd come here and help my dad."

Money collected over the next few months will help buy many things for the EMS department, but, the biggest thing they need is a new Stokes basket. While the equipment does its job in an emergency, it's about time for an upgrade, says EMS director George Jakubson.

"It's the thing that will carry somebody up if a car goes over an embankment," said Jakubson."So that thing is plastic mostly and it's old and it's brittle."

Support from the community has continued to show up and show out, fire officials say. Jakubson adds that it's a great way to check in on community members.

"I grew up in Philadelphia," said Jakubson. "It's a way different environment. It's very much a sense of you're one of us and we're all friends. You can see it's crowded, people are very generous, they've come to help us out."

If you would like to attend the next pancake breakfast, it costs 12 dollars and will be taking place on February 16 from 8:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. at the Danby Volunteer Fire Company located on 1780 Danby Road.

Or, if you'd like to help out in another way, you can stop by the department to make a monetary donation at any time. Jakubson also said to check out their website for volunteer opportunities as they are always looking for more helping hands in all positions at the department.