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ST. CLAIR SHORES — Not only did the Guns N’ Hoses softball game build camaraderie between the St. Clair Shores Police Department and St. Clair Shores Fire Department, it also raised money for three great charities.
Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Candice Rusie said the Guns N’ Hoses softball game raised money for the Great Lakes Burn Camp, Cops for Kids and the St. Clair Shores Women’s Civic League civic funds.
“Which is going to be money we utilize to help projects within the city from other civic or charitable organizations,” Rusie said.
The police won the game. The Aug. 17 contest marked the eighth game hosted by the league and it was also the first game since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. The last game was played in 2019.
“We decided to try to reintroduce what was becoming a fun annual tradition and hopefully we’ll be able to do this again next year and the year after that,” Rusie said.
It was originally started as a fundraiser for the league and also to help the Fire Department and Police Department fundraise for their charities as well.
“We wanted to just have a day of camaraderie between the community,” Rusie said. “Between different organizations.”
Sarah DeDonatis, the Women’s Civic League vice president and Guns N’ Hoses event chair, said the event started around 2013 and that the league has been around since 1939.
“We were looking for ways to help our community, which is one of our bases for existing, but also ways to incorporate police and fire,” DeDonatis said.
There are seven members of the league and DeDonatis said they went to well over 100 businesses to collect donations. With that help, they gave away 53 door prizes and had other separate raffles. They also had sponsors who contributed money.
“It was just a beautiful collaboration,” DeDonatis said.
St. Clair Shores Fire Department Chief James Piper said that though he wasn’t at the event, he thinks the crew had a good time.
“It’s always a good opportunity for some camaraderie and some friendly competition with the police, and it raises some good money for charity,” Piper said.
Piper said the police have had a good time “ribbing” them because they won, but he said the Fire Department would be doing the same thing if they had won.
“We work really closely with them which is great and so any time you get a chance for some of that friendly competition it’s always fun,” Piper said.
In a post on Facebook, the St. Clair Shores Police Department said this:
“While we may have joked back and forth on social media, behind the scenes this night was about bringing back an old tradition and strengthening the camaraderie between our two departments.”
The amount raised for charity was not known at press time.
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