Five local non-profits are each receiving $7,000 to help continue providing their services.

The Fort McMurray Firefighters Charities Association is donating $35,000 to the Boys and Girls Club, Fort McMurray SPCA, Wood Buffalo Food Bank, The Center of Hope, and Waypoints.

The amount is down year-over-year as the group had to cancel their Whisky Auction and Rooftop Campout due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year, there’s an even greater need and unfortunately we just weren’t able to raise the money we normally could, so it’s a little disappointing just the way things worked out,” said Scott Germain, Committee Member.

“Obviously, we’d like to give as much money as possible to our charities but $35,000 is what we were able to give and we’re happy with that amount and hopefully that money will help out these charities quite a bit.”

These funds were raised from their 2019 events. They keep some of the funds to ensure they can hold these events the following year.

Moving forward, Germain says they are hoping to hold some of their events later this year, including the Rooftop Campout.

“We could potentially rehost it in the fall depending on how the COVID things go on, but we were actually just able to confirm that our calendar for next year is still going to happen.”

Over the past 10 years, the FMFCA has been able to raise around $750,000.