A Cochrane artist put her talent to work to help the Cochrane Fire fighters raise money to aid veterans in need.
MJ Stead is auctioning her 16x20 acrylic canvas called Remembering to help stock shelves at the Calgary Veteran’s Food bank. She started the bidding war at $90.
“It is just fantastic, MJ is a fantastic artist and to take the time and effort to do that is simply amazing,” said Dave Levisky, senior firefighter with the Cochrane Firefighters.
“Lesson learned is you just have to put the word out and people will come out there and help.”
The acrylic painting will be available for auction until this evening where the money raised will go toward the Cochrane Fire Fighters Veteran’s Food Drop campaign. At press time the auction was sitting at $300.
“I saw that the food bank was empty and I wished I could do something and I realized I could paint a picture and auction it off,” Stead said.
“It is nice to be able to do something in a small way – we have a lot to be thankful for.”
The initiative started when the Cochrane Firefighter Association donated $500 to support veterans earlier this month sparking a fundraising competition between Aridrie, Cochrane and Kananaskis fire service departments.
“We currently have three full pick-up trucks of food and we are aiming for five or six trucks,” Levisky said.
The Calgary’s Veteran Food Drive started in 2007 in support of the Veterans Food Bank and the Calgary Poppy Fund. One of the goals of the program is educating youth about the sacrifices made by Canada’s veterans.
Levisky said in past interviews that they have three firefighters in the Cochrane department who are veterans and when he learned about the dire situation of the Calgary-based food bank it “hit home” for him.
Members of Cochrane Fire Services are also offering to pick up and deliver donations for anyone in the community who has mobility issues or needs help getting donations to the legion or the Veterans’ Food Bank. For more information or to request assistance for the Cochrane Firefighters contact [email protected]
Stead said she was happy she could help as the Cochranite has always taken Remembrance Day seriously, especially from her days as a Legion member in Ontario.
“I was happy to raise even $100 – now this can buy a lot of food. It’s awesome because it mean more veterans are going to get that food,” Stead said.
The Cochrane Firefighters will be collecting donations until Nov. 15.
All bidding on the Stead’s painting ‘Remembering’ needs to be done at on Facebook, the post can be found on the Spray Lake Sawmills official Facebook page.
The auction ends tonight, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.
