Fundraising

Houghton Volunteer Fire Department relies on the donations of the community and the monies raised from the various fund raising events. Each ambulance call requires at minimum 3 volunteer members, a driver and 2 EMTs, and averages 2-3 hours. The estimated cost for each ambulance call is roughly $250. We can not bill the insurance company to recouperate this cost so we must rely on donations. Community Yardsale

Every Saturday of Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend the Houghton community has a yardsale, which is sponsored by the Houghton Volunteer Fire Department. The yardsale is made up of venders from all over the surrounding communities.

Vendor spots are 8x10 foot and cost $8.00 each, this includes parking behind the spot. We'd love to have you has a vendor, one mans junk is another mans treasure!

The yardsale also coincides with our Chicken BBQ fund raiser, yummm!

Community Dinner

Every spring the Houghton Volunteer Fire Department has its annual community dinner. The dinner is hosted at the Houghton Wesleyan Church on a week night in late winter. The dinner has historically been a spaghetti dinner, however from time to time it has been chicken n' buscuits.

Historiclly the desserts for the dinner have been provided by the community, if you're interested in helping out please contact Jeanlouis Roederer.Watch for signs around town to find out when the next dinner will be!

Chicken BBQ

Twice yearly, Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekends, we have our chicken BBQ fund raiser. We cook some 350 chicken halves each time over a custom built charcoal pit!

The process starts around 6am with preping the pit and the lighting of the charcoal, we are also making our secert sauce at this time. If all goes well the chicken will be placed on the grill by 8am and will be ready to be removed at or before 12 noon.

Cooking of the chicken is a 3-4 person job and requires close attention to be paid; can't have the fire flaring up and burning the chicken! The BBQ pit is on the east side of the firehall, if you're interested in watching stop by.

We sell the chicken halves by themselves, however you can also order the meal which consists of half a chicken, choice of two sides (Baked Beans, Salt Potatoes or Apple Sauce), dinner roll, cookies and a drink. It's a great meal and the price is only $7.00.

Make sure you buy your meal ticket early as we often sell out by 11am.

Study Buddies

Every semester the Houghton Volunteer Fire Department seeks to provide for the nourishment cravings of the some 1000 college students at Houghton College during finals week; we do this by selling study buddy packs. In mid semester letters are sent to the parents of students informing them of the fund raiser and how they can support their student and the fire department. The study buddy pack consists of a variety of food items and some drinks.

For more information please contact our study buddy coordinator or you can download the study buddy form.