On Saturday January 23, 2010 Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad had our Installation of Officers and the 20th Anniversary of the Leonardtown Volunteer Auxiliary. The evening’s event was held at the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department’s Social Hall.

This year the banquet committee decided on a theme of The 80's. The installation dinner was catered by Rita B, and as usual it was delicious. This year's Master of Ceremonies was again done by J Ernest Bell and officers were sworn in by Past President, So MD Fireman's Association Joanie Williams.

Dedication of this year's Installation goes out to the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad Auxiliary for their 20 years of service.

Many times during the early years of the LVRS, an attempt was made to form an Auxiliary for the specific purpose of raising funds for the Squad. Spencer Scriber did an outstanding job during the late 70's raising funds through dances, raffles, and working with Charles and Audrey Ridgell to support bake sales. In the later years, fundraising fell as an extra duty to the volunteer squad members. In 1989, three people decided to form and Auxiliary. They held their first meeting in August and elected officers. They were Candy Chesser, President; Bill Lindsley, Vice President and Secretary; and Gloria LeDonne, Treasurer. Other members present were Ella Neal, Dudley Lindsley, Magdaline Holmes and Ricky Chesser. That first year, the Auxiliary sponsored a card party and a raffle and they were excited to be able to give the Squad $500 at the installation banquet in January 1990. More members joined some spouses of Squad members, some Squad members themselves and other family or friends of Auxiliary members. Since 1989, the Auxiliary has raised and given the Squad $450,823. This amount didn't come easy. Each member has worked hard and many have come up with new ideas for raising funds, such as their popular September Lottery, Portrait Project, Hunter's Pace, and The Festival of Trees. Today the Auxiliary has 25 members and each member contributes to its success. It has been fortunate to have the support of the community and has been overwhelmed with the generosity and out-pouring of support from county businesses and individuals.

This year the Auxiliary presented the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad with a check in the amount of $33,019. We thank the Auxiliary for all their hard work and dedication for their past 20 years and many more to come.

New EMT's for this year was Thomas Pilkerton and the newest IVT is Janet Graves. This year we had 9 junior members join our squad-David Borland, Matthew Goff, Christopher Harvan, Jonathon Harvan, Gregory Hay, Robert Miedzinski Jr, Kate Norris, Jamie Trader and Connor Warren.

The following awards were presented during the ceremony: Rookie of the Year for 2009 went to Jesse Bauer and Debbie Schultz. Jesse joined the Squad in March and quickly settled in as a driver and has been a good asset to this organization. Debbie Schultz joined us and still remains as Treasurer in the Auxiliary. Debbie quickly stepped up to the plate and obtained her EMT certification in 2008.

Chief's Award for 2008 went to Chris Risso. President's Award for 2009 went to The Leonardtown Volunteer Auxiliary. Squad Member of the Year for 2009 went to Greg Schultz. Outstanding Member of the Year -Auxiliary went to Ricky Chesser.

This year we had 2 members run over 500 calls, these individuals were Lisa Morgan with 557 calls and Dave Wright with 527 calls.

After the awards ceremony, entertainment was provided ~DJ Donnie Carter.

Special Thank you goes out to Hollywood Volunteer Rescue Squad for filling in at our station so that our members could enjoy the evening!