Oct 28, 2002 By Christine Haines 3 min read

REPUBLIC – For years, the Republic Volunteer Fire Department and the New Salem Volunteer Fire Department have shared fund-raising activities because the Republic firefighters didn’t have a place to hold activities of their own. But that will soon be changing.

The Republic VFD is in the process of constructing its own social hall, with some financial help from a $50,000 grant secured by state Rep. Peter J. Daley (D-California) through the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Drew Harvilla, the department’s president, said the grant will go toward the estimated $300,000 cost of the construction. Harvilla said there are no specific restrictions on the money, other than it must be used for the construction project.

“That means that much less we have to borrow, or it may go for mortgage payments to give us a cushion or it may just go toward materials,” Harvilla said.

Harvilla said most of the excavation work for the new social hall has been completed and footers will be dug soon. The building materials should arrive in about six weeks. Harvilla said the steel building should be completed in about three months.

“We’re looking at the end of February,” Harvilla said.

Harvilla said the fire department has applied in the past for Federal Emergency Management grants, but has never received any funding.

“This whole process started because we need a fire truck. We couldn’t afford a $350,000 fire truck. We decided to shore up our current truck as much as we could to keep it running for the next five to 10 years. We decided to put the money into something that could make money for us,” Harvilla said. “We’ll have a hall we’re hoping to rent for weddings. We can use it for various fund- raisers.”

“We asked a lot of politicians for help, and Pete Daley was good enough to come through for us,” Harvilla said.

Daley said he has worked closely with Redstone Township officials in recent years to bring grant money to the community.

“We’ve helped Redstone Township in the past with their community center, water and sewer lines and police cars,” Daley said. “These are nuts-and-bolts projects that without this program couldn’t be developed.”

Most of the grants have come through the DCED’s Community Revitalization Program, Daley said.

The new social hall will be located along Route 166 across from Redstone Middle School. The 100- by 80-foot steel building will seat between 300 and 500 people.

“It will give us more opportunity to hold more events for the local community,” Harvilla said.

Harvilla said there are 20 to 25 active members of the Republic Volunteer Fire Department.