Sharpsburg Ladies Auxiliary in search of new members
When Peg Panza joined the Sharpsburg Ladies Auxiliary in the 1970s, members responded to fire calls without fail to feed the firefighters and provide clothing to displaced residents.
The group, in its heyday, hosted pork chop dinners, holiday luncheons and a monthly bingo to raise money for the Sharpsburg Volunteer Fire Department, housed along Main Street. “As of now, the only thing we do to help them is sell lottery tickets,” said Panza, 93, auxiliary president.
“We have a lunch once a year and we get about $1,000 for them. We want to help the firemen but the young ones just don't want to join. We are really in need of new members.”
The Ladies Auxiliary meets at 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month at the Sharpsburg Towers, 601 Main St.
Membership is open to anyone age 18 and older.
“You don't really have to give that much time but it seems like the young people are busy all the time,” said Fritzie King, a Shaler resident and member for more than a decade.
King said it was a fire that destroyed her Millvale home in 1993 that led her to join the auxiliary.
“I moved to Sharpsburg and my neighbors all belonged,” she said.
At that time, there were 35 members. That number has dipped to 10.
Sharpsburg VFD Chief Lou Costanzo fondly recalled past years when the ladies' auxiliary members were an extension of the fire department.
“They made every attempt to help us in any way they could, whether with fundraising or baked goods for our fish fry,” Costanzo said.
He said auxiliary members responded to middle-of-the-night fire calls with food, donated candy for the children's Halloween party and hosted monthly bingos that consistently were sold out.
“They were always there but as times have changed their membership has aged and numbers have dwindled,” he said.
King, the group's treasurer, said it's difficult to raise any significant amount of money for the fire department with only 10 people working behind the scenes.
“I'm 76 years old and I'm one of the youngest ones there,” King said. “Of course we can't hope to give them a million dollars, but our funds just keep going down because we don't have as many people coming out to help put on events.”
King said she's disappointed that the auxiliary's profile in the community is also dwindling. Members discontinued the tradition of manning a booth at the borough's annual Guyasuta Days festival, she said.
“We just want to help this community,” Panza said. “We love all those firemen. We're so attached to them and we don't want the auxiliary to go under.”
Tawnya Panizzi is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach her at 412-782-2121, ext. 2 or at tpanizzi@tribweb.com.
