Christmas benefit party on Dec. 13 will raise funds for Dearborn Firefighters Burn Drive

DEARBORN — The Dearborn Firefighters Burn Drive, a local charity organization created by members of the Dearborn Fire Department, is holding a Christmas benefit party on Thursday, Dec. 13, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The charity fundraiser will be held at Cheli’s Chili, 21918 Michigan Avenue, in Dearborn. It is open to adults 18 and older. All proceeds will benefit children who are patients in burn wards at hospitals in southeast Michigan. Admission is free. The Burn Drive will be selling bowls of chili to raise money, and you can also order items off of the Cheli’s Chili regular menu. There will be music and dancing, a cash bar, raffles and gifts every half hour and a silent auction of sports memorabilia. The Dearborn Firefighters Burn Drive raises funds to assist burn victims, children in need and victims of fire recover from the devastating effects that fires have had on their lives. Since its inception, the Burn Drive has donated more than $1 million to national and local burn centers and other charities. It has also established several endowments totaling more than $400,000, and aided southeastern Michigan hospitals in obtaining hyperbaric oxygen chambers to help treat smoke inhalation victims. For more information, contact John Ewing at 313.943.4142 or jawing@ci.dearborn.mi.us. Meanwhile, the public is also invited to the City of Dearborn’s traditional Christmas tree lighting and sing-along at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, December 5 from 6 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.  It is a free event. Nancy Dunn of Dearborn is donating a 35-foot Colorado blue spruce tree for the ceremony. Giuseppe Cavataio, who is five years old and attends Lowrey School in Dearborn, will have the honor of switching on the lights at a celebration that honors Mayor Michael A. Guido who passed away on Dec. 5, 2006. Also dedicating their performances to Mayor Guido will be the Dearborn Public Schools’ Honors Choir, Dearborn High Orchestra and the Verdi Opera Theater of Michigan. 

The program will begin outdoors with the musical performances, followed by the tree lighting and fireworks.  

Moving indoors, the Michael A. Guido Theater will be filled with music from a Christmas sing-along with Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., accompanied by the Verdi Opera Theater of Michigan and the Honors Choir and Dearborn High Orchestra. The festivities will conclude with a visit from Santa Claus and refreshments in The Center‘s Court Café.