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QUINCY, ILL. -- The Blessing Breast Center received a big boost of support from the Quincy Fire Department Wednesday.

Thanks to t-shirt sales throughout the month of October, the department raised close to 8 thousand dollars for the center.

A group of Quincy firefighters presented a check for $7,687.79, all wearing the shirts that brought in almost double the sales from last year's donation.

The shirts were designed by firefighter Michael Dade. It shows a firefighter on a ladder wrapped in the breast cancer awareness ribbon.

"Any time you give them an opportunity to wear a t-shirt instead of a badge, they like to be in the t-shirt, a little more casual look. We're glad to be doing it for such a great cause. We didn't require anybody to do anything, but the firefighters stepped up and wrote checks personally to buy the shirts and they've led by example and that's what we're looking for," Chief Joe Henning said.

This is the second year for the annual t-shirt sales. Henning says his department may add hoodies in the mix for next year. Money from these t-shirt sales are one of the biggest fund raisers for the center.

Lori Wilkey with the Blessing Breast Center says about nine thousand women come through the center each year.

"If a woman would come through and have a screening mammography all the way through biopsies, we're talking thousands of dollars. So this really does make a difference to women who are in definite need of that financial support," Wilkey said.

The Quincy Fire Department also supports the Muscular Dystrophy Association as well as the Toys for Tots campaign at the end of the year.