A silent auction for Australia saw more than 30 Williams Lake businesses donating items to be auctioned off.
Helping with the event Wednesday evening at Boston Pizza was the Wildwood Volunteer Fire Department.
“Wildwood is always happy to jump into any fundraisers around town. Anytime someone is needing help we’re generally there to lend a hand and it’s a good cause and we’re just happy to be here,” said firefighter Drake Williams.
Joined with firefighters Anita Diepdael and Lorie Madill, Williams added he met the organizer of the silent auction, Brooke Dawydiuk of Boston Pizza, through his girlfriend and after talking about it agreed to help.
“It’s something that’s dear to my heart because in 2017 they recruited a lot of people into our town and we had a lot of help from other communities and I just want to be able to help Australia,” Diepdael said.
Madill called the bushfires in Australia horrible and a big change to the world.
“I know when the wildfires hit in 2017 I got displaced from my home and the support that we saw from everyone everywhere was amazing and we’re just trying to pay that back forward,” Williams said.
Among the items donated by the Department to the silent auction were a cat scratching post and a Wildwood Fire Department backpack.
There’s no word as of yet on how much the auction raised.