Stair climb for mental health
Four Drouin CFA members were amongst 600 firefighter and emergency services personnel who participated in the Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb challenge recently to raise funds and awareness for mental health.
Drouin’s Kingsley Lucas, Alex Gobbett, Jesse Craig and Quentin Leuridan joined others to kit up in 25kgs of turnout and breathing apparatus gear and scale 28 floors at Crown Metropol Hotel.
Together they raised $2500, which went into a whopping $500,000 raised by participants across Australia for Lifeline, Fortem and the 000Foundation.
The group headed into the city at 5am on Saturday morning and arrived just after 6am to register. They then kitted up and started the challenge.
Jesse Craig, who has been with the CFA for 12 years, said the climb was a challenging experience.
“At one stage, stopping and actually reflecting on why we are there was one of the reasons I was able to finish, and I know speaking to the other three, they thought the same,” he said.
“It was a lot more challenging than we expected but very rewarding.”
Jesse and two others attempted the challenge last year, however, it was completed online due to the pandemic.
This year they were happy to be attending the actual event and were able to meet Ember the crisis response Labrador.
“We got to meet her and give her a pat and a cuddle which was nice - she raised over $15,000,” he said.
Mr Craig said it was good to work with other firefighters and emergency services personnel towards a common goal.
He said the group “100 per cent” plan on returning to the challenge next year, and as soon they returned to Drouin they began recruiting more people.
Since 2014 the Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb has raised more than $3 million, benefitting the Alfred Hospital’s burns unit, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Lifeline, Black Dog Institute, Emergency Services Foundation and the 000Foundation.