Fundraising for the Royal Children's Hospital

Somers Fire Brigade's James Whelan with children Thomas, Benjamin and Grace

 

After fundraising for the Good Friday Appeal for many years, this year will prove exciting for Somers Fire Brigade with the crews heading into the Tally Room for the very first time.

 

Previously fundraising with a local team, the Somers crews have stepped out on their own over the past two years with the introduction of the Virtual Tin Shake in 2020.

Somers firefighter James Whelan said that fundraising for the Appeal benefits the community in a number of ways.

“There’s two sides to why we fundraise for the Good Friday Appeal,” he said. “One is obviously the charity – it’s an amazing cause to raise money for and we love to support such a wonderful organisation.

“The other side is about giving volunteers the opportunity to get out and mingle with members of the community and show the other ways that we support the community as a brigade.”

James said that this year, the brigade will be heading into The Royal Children’s Hospital on Good Friday.

“We traditionally rattle tins outside the IGA in Balnarring. I take my children there and they help out too. This year, at around 7pm we’ll head down and join in the activities, hand over the funds we’ve collected and see the tally room.”

For Somers, the Appeal hits close to home.

“We’ve had some local families affected by illness who have really benefited from the services of The Royal Children’s Hospital, so at the end of the day it’s really special for us to raise money and be a part of this.”

Many brigades across the state choose to fundraise for the cause because their communities have been personally impacted.

Another of these brigades is Hopetoun, who this year is fundraising for the first time.

Dannielle Burzacott is a firefighter and secretary for Hopetoun Fire Brigade. She said that lots of children in their community have benefited from the services of The Royal Children’s Hospital.

“We have seen a few brigades around the area that take part in the Good Friday Appeal and a few of the members have had a discussion about taking part this year,” Dannielle said.

“This is my first year as secretary along with Kimberly Decker, and the Good Friday Appeal is a great fundraiser that we both believe in and we want to try and make a difference.

“In our little town there are a lot of children that have been to The Royal Children’s Hospital and needed to be there, so anything we can do to help support this we think is great.”

Dannielle said the crews are aiming high for their first year of fundraising.

“For our first year we hope that we can raise some money as well as show the community that the CFA are willing to help with things other than fires. We have a great community and we are all volunteer fire fighters who are willing to help with anything we can.”

“Our new members are on the increase, and we’re all really keen to make a massive difference in our community.”

You can find out more about taking part in the Good Friday Appeal on Members Online.

 

Submitted by	CFA News