I have to jump in with my 2 cents...my husband and oldest son were on our local volunteer fire dept for years and they had a fundraiser like this once a year. These men volunteer their time, gas money, missed sleep, not to mention their wifes missed sleep, to run in a flash in the middle of the night or in the middle of a meal to help someone in need. It is a hot dangerous job and I am so blessed we have them! That being said, once a year, I can handle the boot collections cause it is always your choice to give or not...we donate quilts to area fire depts to raffle off. Some of these smaller fire dept have run out of their yearly budget for gas, assisting other counties with all the fires popping up across Texas.