Volunteer Fire Department Fundraising

[16fire5 693]

Last Saturday I stopped at a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department made a quick purchase and was on my way. While completing my purchase I was handed a flyer. While cleaning up today I came across the flyer and had the chance to read it. The flyer was the typical description of the VFD and then the request for donations. It stated the department operates almost entirely on donations and receives no tax dollars for support. The department in question is a fire district so all apparatus and equipment is in fact taxpayer supported. In the flyer there is no explanation of the difference between the department and district and that a district in fact exists. If you ask me the district/department difference to the general public is semantics. How is this not an outright lie? Why would you even portray yourself this way since the public has to know it is a false statement if they see their tax bill since the fire district is listed on it? Funny thing is I was only slightly shocked since I had seen flyers and claims like this before from other departments. I guess some will argue that this is a legally factual statement but my point is this is very misleading advertising and probably pretty widespread.