Oshawa firefighter making a difference
Andrew McCuaig and Tim Sutton spent Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 hosting their annual Oshawa Firefighters Slo-Pitch tournament, which was started by McCuaig after Sutton beat cancer.
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
An Oshawa firefighter was recently recognized for his efforts to support numerous charitable organizations.
Andrew McCuaig, a member of the Oshawa Fire Service, has organized a slo-pitch tournament fundraising since 2016, started when fellow firefighter Tim Sutton was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
The tournament, which took place Sept. 27 and 28, has raised approximately $27,000 over the past three years, and all of the money raised goes to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.
McCuaig won presented the Oshawa Fire Service Humanitarian Award for 2018 by Fire Chief Derrick Clark on Sept. 24. He is the third recipient of the award.
He was selected out of a group of 200 firefighters from across Oshawa for organizing the slo-pitch tournament, as well as competing in events raising money for 9/11 responders in New York City.
He has done stair races at the World Trade Center as well as closer to home at the CN Tower.
He’s also participated in a Montreal event to raise money for muscular dystrophy.
“I’ve been very involved with all of the fundraising that’s taken place here,” he says.
McCuaig has also worked with the FireFit committee, which has raised more than $35,000 for the Firehouse Subs Foundation.
The Firehouse Subs Foundation donates fire equipment to different departments and organizations across Durham Region.
McCuaig says that just being nominated for the award was special.
“I still remember the day that I got a text message from the guy that nominated me, asking me some weird questions,” McCuaig recalls. “So, I kind of had an idea of what he was up to. Even that was beyond special. Just to know that out of 200 people that someone else is thinking of you and that they think that highly of you.
“To find out that I’d won is probably one of my bigger accomplishments in life,” he adds.
In his free time, McCuaig helps to raise his 14 month-old daughter with his wife, Tara. “That’s the majority of my free time now,” he says with a chuckle.
McCuaig says that he enjoys everything to do with the fire service and helping younger, aspiring firefighters by mentoring them through the rigors of the recruitment process.
Laughing, McCuaig says that he is the only Ottawa Senators fan on the Oshawa Fire Service.
McCuaig also says that he enjoys traveling, and that he’s been to Aruba, and that he was actually planning to go to Europe with Tara, but instead started helping with recruit training for the fire service.
“I’ve still never been to Europe,” he says. “But I’m hoping to go in 2021 for the world police-fire games to compete in the stair race.”