Firefighters to Raise Money for the Jeffrey Chavis House

This Saturday members of the Easley Fire Department will be hitting the streets armed with boots and a cause and they'll be asking for your support. 

Each year the firefighters of the Easley Fire Department team up to raise money for the Jeffrey Vaden Chavis House at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, GA, by holding a Boot Drive here in Easley.

The Chavis house, named after Lexington County, SC firefighter Jeffrey Chavis who died in 2001 while being treated for burns he received while fighting a fire, offers burn victims' families a place to stay while they visit patients at the burn center.

"His parents noticed while they were there that there were families sleeping in their cars because they wanted to be close by and couldn't afford a place to stay," Firefighter Shannon Dales said.

The Easley Fire Department will have 20 firefighters out raising money for the Chavis house on Saturday. They will be at Walmart, Belks, the intersections of Powdersville Road and Calhoun Memorial Highway and Main and Pendleton Streets.

"We don't have a goal, but last year we were able to collect a little over $5,000," Dales said.

40 percent of the admissions to the burn center are from South Carolina, according to statistics provided by the department. In 2010 there were 25 patients from Pickens County, 56 from Greenville County, and a total of 768 from the state of South Carolina.

"We're just helping families that are dealing with a tragedy," Dales said. 

If you see a firefighter holding a boot on Saturday, be sure to lend your support.