Benefit concert for the Young family

Jeff Green | Dec 16, 2010

Photo right: Bill & David Young.

It was a good thing there were no fire calls on December 11 in Sharbot Lake.

If there had been, the St. James Major Catholic Church, which was packed with members of the Oso fire crew and other Central Frontenac firefighters for a benefit dance for the Young family, who lost their house to a fire last month, would have gone pretty quiet.

Bill Young, a deputy fire chief in the Central Frontenac Crew, and his sons Billy and David, didn't take centre stage during the evening; they didn't really have to because the audience knew them well enough.

Glenn Moase, a firefighter and one of the organizers of the event, expressed the appreciation of the audience, and the community as a whole, for the collective 23 years that the Young family has already put into the fire service. Not only has Bill been the face of the local department for years, his sons have been a major part of the strong youth movement in the local service, which sets it up for a future of volunteer firefighting.

“When they define the word community,” Moase said, “they could just say Central Frontenac.”

Other fire departments, including the Wolfe Island Department, made donations, and a silent auction brought in money as well.

Even though the evening only came about because of a fire, there was no regret expressed about the past, only optimism about the future, as the re-building project will come about pretty soon.

Central Frontenac Fire Chief Mark MacDonald said, “I guess you have a house to build, Bill” as he rolled a Makita air compressor and stand out from the storage room onto the dance floor, a gift from the fire crew, “so you'd better get to it.”

Sean McCullough and his crack country band kept the dance floor full until 1a.m. and beyond playing new and old country and rock songs. When the music was over, the audience wanted more, so McCullough said he would play a couple more tunes if the audience would donate some more money to the cause. That brought in a couple of hundred dollars and a couple of Steve Earle tunes.

There was a sad note to the evening, however. Glenn Moase announced that 81-year-old Sharbot Lake resident Keith Hawley, a member of the fire department who was recently recognized for 60 years of service, had suffered a heart attack on Friday night (December 10) while out for a walk and was in intensive care in hospital. Glenn expressed the best wishes from the department to Keith and his wife Irene.