New Hometown Heroes (L to R) – Dave Ashworth, Dave Osmer, Christian Kaithern and Shawn Simpson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Chief Matt Cardile,

HTFD-23 Welcomes Four New Hometown Heroes to the Department

Join HTFD-23 Encourages Local Residents to Step up & Stand out to Support the Community

March 2022 Mullica Hill, New Jersey – Harrison Township Fire Chief Matt Cardile announced the addition of four new volunteers to the department. The new members are the result of the Join HTFD-23 recruitment campaign that the department launched in 2021, as part of the Fire District’s Strategic Plan.  The goal of the recruitment campaign is to raise awareness and encourage residents to step up, stand out and volunteer.

The new volunteers – or Hometown Heroes as they are referred to locally – are David Osmer, Shawn Simpson, Christian Kaithern, and David Ashworth.

“While developing our strategic plan last year we recognized the decline in the number of volunteers amongst our ranks,” states Chief Cardile. “Our mission is to provide a service to our residents of our community and the fact is if we don’t increase our volunteer numbers we will have to increase our paid staff which can have a direct impact on our tax rate.”

The Join HTFD-23 recruitment effort kicked off in early 2021 and will continue through 2022 with two significant promotions in April and September. The integrated communication plan reached residents through lawn signs, email, print ads, social media, support from local merchants and more.

In addition to the dedicated recruitment promotions, the HTFD-23 members are active in the community through the schools and Main Street events. Plus, the monthly “Hometown Hero” is featured across the community through local publications, Happening in the Hill and social media. The hometown heroes continue to grow in popularity each month.

“I’ve considered joining a few times over the years,” explained new recruit David Osmer. “Last year I started to see the lawn signs throughout the community, and then the print ads, the emails and Facebook posts – I finally went to the website and sent in my info and now I am finishing up at Fire Academy.”

“Serving the community and being part of the HTFD-23 team is both rewarding and fulfilling,” shared Chief Cardile. “Our hope is that more residents will just take the time to consider being a volunteer and come out to learn more about what we are all about.”

For more information about HTFD-23 go to JoinHTFD23.com.