CRANBERRY TWP — The Cranberry Township Community Chest received a $2,500 donation this week from a company that will benefit the 2015 Project of the Year.

That project is an initiative to recruit and retain more volunteer firefighters in Butler County. The community chest has a $500,000 goal and has already raised more than half that amount.

About $130,000 of that money will go to buy an emergency response trailer, which will be used for training, education and recruitment purposes.

The rest of the money will go to establishing scholarships at Butler County Community College. To be eligible for those scholarships, students must pledge a two-year commitment to a fire company after becoming certified as a firefighter.

The CW Howard Insurance Agency this week donated the $2,500, which brings the total amount raised to $268,842.

Bruce Mazzoni, treasurer of the community chest, said he is thrilled with the pace of fundraising.

“It’s great,” he said. “We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

Mazzoni added that the community chest hasn’t even rolled out a marketing campaign that will further promote the project.

“We’re not even marketing this until mid-to-late September, so I feel very good about this,” he said. “I’m very confident we’ll meet and hopefully exceed the amount we’re shooting for.”

Mazzoni is setting up seminars in September to educate the public about the project.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the project or to donate can visit the community chest’s website at

www.ctcchest.org.