By Callum Ludwig
Hillcrest Fire Brigade made a sizeable contribution to last week’s record-breaking Good Friday Appeal.
Walking the streets and knocking on doors in Woori Yallock, Launching Place and Don Valley, brigade members managed to raise an astonishing $4091.40 for the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Brigade member Rochelle Poulton led the effort and said everyone was really proud of the amount they raised.
“Especially as we had a lot of members and residents away on holidays as its the first year we’ve been able to get away for Easter for a while, so it was a great effort,” she said.
“Over the course of two days, we jumped in the truck and were dropped off a street and we just kept knocking and walking until we couldn’t go any further before getting dropped off at the next street, with one person back at the chance for anyone who visited to donate.”
Of the $23,061,320 total raised across Australia, CFA volunteers raised $1,606,287.
Ms Poulton said residents loved seeing brigade members rock up to their houses.
“People were just really proud in general of us doing the door knock and helping out with the Good Friday Appeal despite the weather. We did brave it with some ponchos at one point because the rain was starting to get a bit heavy,” she said.
“You find more often than not that the people who are struggling the most do often give more because they know what it’s like to be in a hard situation. They’ll tell you that they were once in a bad position and they’re more than happy to help out now because they’re in a position where they can help out and it just makes them feel good about themselves.”
The money will go towards supporting new and ongoing programs at the Royal Children’s Hospital such as Cardiac projects, the Centre for Health Analytics, the development of the Melbourne Children’s Campus Mental Health Strategy and vibrant youth program Chronic Illness Peer Support (ChIPS).
