Four Brown County volunteer fire departments are making progress on their Matching grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VIII) through the Community Foundation.

The departments involved are Southern Brown, Brown County, Hamblen Township and Jackson Township.

It is a dollar for dollar matching grant, meaning that Lilly Endowment Inc. will match every dollar raised for the departments. Their unanimous goal is to raise $102,250 by the end of 2025. The grant will be used for purchasing new tools, medical packs and other safety equipment, according to the Community Foundation’s online fundraiser.

At the time of writing, this fundraiser has raised $23,307 which for reference can be used to train and outfit one volunteer firefighter.

Other fundraising events have included fireworks at Story Inn and a motor show, both raising money for Southern Brown.

On Aug. 10 the annual Brown County Jeep Poker Run benefited Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department with around 110 Jeeps and 250 people showing up to the event, according to Patty Frensemeier, one of the event’s organizers.

While they have not totaled up the exact amount raised from the event at the time of writing, tickets were $40 per person which would total to around $10,000 from tickets alone.

Brown County Volunteer Fire Department Lieutenant Hunter Riebl said that they have not had a dedicated fundraiser at their department for the matching grant, but they have been engaging in social media campaigns to encourage people to donate through the Community Foundation’s link.

“We are working on setting up fundraisers for the rest of this year, but are extremely limited by manpower and availability,” said Riebl. “Our call volume has doubled within the last four years and we are struggling to provide for life-and-death emergencies, let alone fundraising. Even though we rely on our fundraisers to help cover the day-to-day cost of operating. Our locally famous fish tent has been canceled again this year due to the high cost of supplies and lack of available man hours. But we are trying to replace that event with something that would have better profit margins with less time invested. We really need the community’s help this year. If anyone is able to volunteer their time to help with fundraisers or if they are interested in becoming a firefighter, they can check out our website at www.browncountyvfd.org.”

Brown County’s Community Foundation Chief Executive Officer told the Democrat that they have recently received new donations and are working on adding it to the total number raised.

Donations can be made to the community foundation for the departments online at secure.givelively.org/donate/brown-county-community-foundation-inc/fundraiser-supporting-volunteer-fire-departments-in-brown-county.

The Democrat was unable to contact Southern Brown, Hamblen and Jackson volunteer fire departments.