Members for the community and neighboring fire departments came out to support a Livingston County Fire Chief in-need. Unadilla Township Fire Chief Mark Schroeder has been a part of the department for 35 years, leading it for the past 17. Schroeder recently suffered a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in the lungs.

When members of the department learned about the financial troubles Schroeder now faces with paying for the medical bills, they banded together to throw a benefit this past Saturday to help him out. Unadilla Assistant Fire Chief Wendy Hause was overwhelmed by the support they saw. She said there was a lot of doubt that surfaced by only planning the spaghetti dinner benefit a week in advance, but that all of the emergency services in the county came together and pulled it off.

Hause sent out special thank you’s to the Dexter Area Fire Department for handling their calls during the benefit, and to Putnam Township Fire Chief Greg Amburgey and his department for hosting the event. Between the event and a GoFundMe page, more than $11,000 has been raised to help Schroeder with his bills. While his recovery is expected to be lengthy, Schroeder’s prognosis is to be well again. Hause said that he is out of the hospital and currently in rehabilitation.
For anyone wishing to show support and assist, visit the GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/support-for-unadilla-twp-fd-chief-mark-schroeder (MK)