By Mikayla van Loon
Evelyn Ridge Retirement Village residents and social committee members have made a significant contribution to Mount Evelyn CFA to start off the year of donations.
Meeting with captain Rick Ventrella and community safety officer Geoff Dawson on Friday 27 January, social committee chairman Geoff Welsh and treasurer Rosalie Hailes handed over the $1000 donation in a small presentation.
“We had afternoon teas and raffles and the Christmas dinner and there was money left over,” Rosalie said.
“After all the expenses, we had $800 or something that we allocated but then we discussed why not put $200 into it and make the straight $1,000.”
Having previously raised funds for the CFA through events and donation tins, social committee president Tina Disney said while not the only cause the residents raise funds for, it is certainly something they want to continue.
“You appreciate our fire service so much more if they’ve ever had to come to your place and they did for me once,” she said.
“We were on top of a hill and I could hear five sirens. They came from Lilydale and Ringwood and Croydon and Mooroolbark and all of a sudden you realise what could happen but you do appreciate their work.”
For Rosalie, who has been a member of the CFA auxiliary since 1964, supporting the local brigade is important to her but more so, she said “we all rely on them, everyone in the village relies on the CFA”.
Being in the middle of a fire danger area, surrounded by trees and large paddocks, Geoff, Rosalie and Tina know the risks of fire in Mount Evelyn but also said, the village is hopefully a safe refuge point for the town’s residents should a bushfire break out.
While there have been a number of false alarms and close calls in the village itself, Geoff said the volunteer brigade have always been responsive and dedicated to the safety of residents which helped influence the decision to donate this money to them.
“The CFA, I just think they are a fantastic organisation and I think this particular brigade is absolutely tops,” he said.
“We had a group of people here and one of them was in the CFA and they happened to mention that during Covid everyone stopped giving donations, because nothing was happening so I guess that activated us a bit too.”
Rosalie said in the scheme of things, $1000 may not be all that substantial for the brigade but goes by the mantra “every little bit helps”.
