Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) Melbourne Substation Officer Carl Costin was today honoured as fire fighter of the year by Airservices CEO Jason Harfield and ARFFS Executive General Manager Rob Porter.
Carl was nominated by one of his colleagues for his engagement with operational projects and initiatives as well as his commitment to helping his colleagues learn continually on-the-job through debrief sessions and sharing lessons learnt from aviation incidents around the world.
Carl also is involved with giving back to his community and is a key driver of ARFFS Melbourne’s ongoing support of the Good Friday Appeal for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
With his partner-in-charity, Leading Fire Fighter Lockie Saint-John, the dynamic duo laid the groundwork for a record donation from Airservices this year of $110 550.
ARFFS Melbourne set themselves an ambitious target of $35 000 in 2019, more than they had ever raised before, but finished with a whopping $55 275 in total through a variety of fundraising events including auctions, sausage sizzles and rattling tins.
The team raised more than $32 000 alone by rattling tins at Melbourne Airport on Easter Friday—traditionally our busiest period for air travel.
This year, Mr Harfield pledged to match the funds raised, dollar-for-dollar, should ARFFS Melbourne meet their target, which resulted in a very large cheque presented today to Good Friday Appeal representatives Jac Fletcher and Emma Langmaid.
The Appeal raises much-needed funds for the RCH including equipment, care, research education and training and chief fundraising coordinators Lockie Saint-John and Carl Costin begin the planning for the next year almost as soon as the Easter weekend is over.
ARFFS Melbourne has been supporting the Good Friday Appeal since 1993 and since that time has raised more than $400,000 for the Royal Children’s Hospital.
