Ice cream social season begins

Events help support VFDs

By Patrick Cooley, pcooley@mariettatimes.com
Jerad Ketelsen of Jacksonville, Fla., lined up his putter on Saturday on the small miniature golf course that had been set up at Salem-Liberty Elementary School.

He looked at the golf ball, looked at the hole, then took his shot. He barely missed the hole and shook his head, having missed the third of three attempts, and having paid 50 cents for a shot at a small prize.

But Ketelsen felt fine with not winning anything, because all the money went toward supporting the Salem Township Volunteer Fire Department at its annual ice cream social.

Ketelsen was in town for a friend’s funeral and came to the social because he wanted to see some of the people he grew up with.

“This is one of our main sources of income,” Salem fire Chief Jay Handschumacher said of the social. “We get around $26,000 from our levy, and we usually raise anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 from the social. That’s all of the operating money we get.”

Handschumacher said the money from the social helps with the department’s upkeep, allowing them to pay for utilities and equipment.

Ice cream socials are a common way for local volunteer fire departments to raise money. Many have one every summer.

Jeff Lauer, director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency and chief of the Fearing Township Volunteer Fire Department, said the amount of money raised at such events varies from department to department.

“Each one raises differently,” he said. “We normally raise around $4,000. Most of the time the money is just put into our normal budget because our tax levy is not enough to sustain our operation.”

Lauer said most socials have something to draw participants beyond just the ice cream.

“Just about every department has a country store,” he said. “We go out and solicit some of the businesses in the Marietta area that we patronize and they give us donated items. (During the social) we sell tickets with numbers on them, and at the end of the night we call out a number for each item and people can claim their prize.”

Lauer said it’s important for individuals to attend their local department’s social, but they should also patronize other socials as well.

“If we have a fire today and it’s a large fire, we’re going to have mutual aid from other townships,” he said.

Many socials also serve dinner as well.

“Ours is a social and a chicken barbecue,” Richard Sams, chief of the Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department said. “We normally raise between $7,000 and $10,000.”

Like many of the local socials, Oak Grove’s has bingo and other games for patrons to play and tractor and hay rides for children.

“The money goes to things we can’t pay for out of the levy — uniforms, meals and publicity stuff,’ Sams said. ‘When we have events with Santa Claus and Easter egg hunts for the kids, that comes from the ice cream social money.”

To some, the socials are important community events as well. Bob Gerst, 54, has lived in Lower Salem all his life and said he has only missed a handful of socials since the department starting having them.

“It’s the only time of the year you get to see everybody,” he said. “There isn’t much left in the small town communities like (the ice cream social).”