BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— In its final official act, the Keystone Heights Volunteer Fire Department gave away thousands of dollars to Lake Region nonprofits during a Sept. 9 event at the city’s beach pavilion.
The funds came from the proceeds of the organization’s sales of its firehouse and rescue house on Flamingo Street. The department’s president, Tony Brown, who is also a Keystone Heights City Council member, said the money also included leftover operating funds accumulated over the years.
Following the sale of its station on Flamingo Street earlier this year, the organization accepted funding applications on its website from Lake Region nonprofits.
Receiving funds from the fire department were Community Church of Keystone Heights, the Melrose Volunteer Fire Department, Mission of the Dirt Road, Lake Area Ministries, Gold Head Associates, Save Our Lakes, the Lake Region Development Corporation, Answers Resource Facility, First Baptist Church of Keystone Heights, Children’s Home Society of Florida, Morgan’s House, the Jordan Cooper Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Clay County Educational Foundation, the Keystone Heights Sports Association, Seeds of Grace and Soldiers Freedom Outdoors.
During the event, Brown told the organizations that the fire department board hopes the community will benefit from the funding.
“Prayerfully look over what we have given you,” he told leaders of the recipient organizations, “and spend the money wisely to benefit the community.”
The department was founded in 1952 to provide fire and rescue protection to the Lake Region. A contract dispute between the volunteer group and Clay County officials in 2013 led to the county locking out the volunteer group from responding to 911 calls.
The Keystone group attempted to join volunteer groups in Bradford County throughout the 2010s. However, a nationwide trend in the decline of volunteer fire departments, and Bradford County’s abandonment of a fire station in the Speedville area thwarted those attempts.
Bradford County has now converted to an all-paid fire rescue operation.
