By Callum Ludwig
Hillcrest CFA’s Rochelle Poulton is once again taking on the Melbourne Firefighters Stair Climb this September.
Ms Poulton is holding her annual battery collection to fundraise once again and is encouraging residents to get in touch with her to drop them off.
Ms Poulton said she is hoping to raise $1600 this year.
“I would like to be able to reach $10,000 from my total over the years, and to be able to do that I need to raise $1600 this year,” she said.
“I would also like to reach 800 batteries, I’ve currently collected 627 so I think 800 would be a nice goal to work towards, and for the climb, I’d just like to beat last year’s time, which I’m not sure of.”
Last year, Ms Poulton raised $3478 towards the $7590 raised by Hillcrest CFA overall.
Ms Poulton said her battery drive is a good opportunity to deal with the hassle of properly getting rid of old batteries and to do it for a good cause.
“If they have any old car, truck, lawnmower batteries or anything, they can just give me a call and I’d be happy to organise a time with them,” she said.
“It stops people leaving batteries lying around, which is a fire hazard, and it also stops people from disposing of them in the wrong way, because there are certain ways that batteries do have to be disposed of.”
This year is Ms Poulton’s sixth year of participating in the event. Funds raised from the 2023 event will go towards cancer research and crisis support through Lifeline, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation and the 000Foundation. A goal of $700,000 raised from the event has been set.
The Melbourne Firefighters Stair Climb involves firefighters from around the state scaling 28 floors of Crown Metropol in up to 25kg of turnout gear and breathing apparatus and will be held on Saturday 2 September.
Anyone interested in donating to Ms Poulton’s effort can do so at www.firefighterclimb.org.au/climber/rochellepoulton and anyone interested in donating a battery can contact her on 0472 610 029.
