By Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Botetourt County Department of Fire & EMS received the third installment of donations from the owner of three local fuel stations at the beginning of the month. The donation totaled $7,418.81.
Dan Patel, the owner of Happy Food Mart, Quickette Food Mart and the Eagle Rock Grab n Go, presented the checks to Chief Jason Ferguson and Deputy Chief Jeff Powell. Over the past three months, the businesses donated nearly $12,000 to benefit the county’s emergency response during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The department said, “On behalf of Botetourt County and our entire Fire & EMS family, we wish to thank Mr. Patel and his team of associates for their leadership and spirit of community.”
Earlier this year, Patel pledged to donate 5 cents for every gallon of gas sold during the months of April, May, and June to organizations fighting COVID-19.
“We wanted to reach out to the community to see how we could help because we’re a local business,” Patel said of how the idea came about. “This is the least we can do.”
In total, Patel owns eight local stores.
