This International Volunteer Day we say a huge thank you to Keith Murfin!

Volunteers are the heartbeat of our charity and they donate their time, whether it’s helping in our boutique stores, offices and warehouses, or getting out in the community building relationships while raising money and awareness for our cause. They attend and speak at events, put out collection tins, some even put on events just to celebrate The Air Ambulance Service and raise funds to help us continue our service. We would like to thank all of our valuable volunteers for their hard work, especially one in particular.

In 2015, Keith Murfin moved to Derbyshire from Lincolnshire and contacted us about volunteering for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA) – Keith has been a hands on volunteer ever since.

He began his volunteering by being assigned a round of collection tins which then increased and he soon began attending bucket collections and stalls, before progressing to cheque presentations and also speaking at numerous events.

Before long, Keith became invaluable to our charity and was attending a multitude of different events. He was always happy to attend and represent DLRAA at anything we asked him to go to and, through relationships he built himself, he even began to organise events for us – which took weeks and sometimes months of dedication, planning and organising.

One of these events included the Carsington Water Classic Car Show which has been an annual, well attended DLRAA event for the last three years. The whole event was Keith’s idea and seeing it go from a thought in his mind to thousands of pounds in donations was something he is immensely proud of…and so he should be.

Keith has sadly now moved from Derbyshire and, as a result, his time as a DLRAA volunteer has come to an end. In his four years as a volunteer, Keith has contributed to raising an absolutely incredible £175,000! Before he left, we invited Keith to our base at East Midlands Airport where we presented him with a plaque and a large cheque, letting him know the staggering amount he has helped to raise for our charity.

Keith was overwhelmed and said:

“I had no idea the amount of money was so high, but it was a real team effort. I have had incredible support from a team of volunteers who have helped and it has been an absolute pleasure raising money for DLRAA.

“I have loved my time volunteering for the charity and to see the difference giving my time has made is truly humbling.

“The biggest highlight for me was seeing how passionate the local community are about their local air ambulance and seeing just how much they believe in it and the service it provides. I have attended so many events over the past four years and met some incredibly passionate and kind people in that time.”

DLRAA Community Fundraising Executive Lee Bunting added:

“When I began this role at the beginning of 2019, Derbyshire was a very new county to me and I called upon the assistance of some of our long standing volunteers to help me get acquainted with the area.

“Keith was one of those volunteers and his knowledge of the area, as well as the links and connections he has of the local community, was and has continued to be a huge help to me. It didn’t take me long to realise that Keith was recognised county wide for the work he has done in raising awareness of our charity and I soon gave him the moniker “Mr Derbyshire”.

“Keith attended a number of meetings and presentations with me to help give me the confidence of having someone with his knowledge by my side and to also speak to supporters about his experiences as a volunteer. He has been a huge help to me personally this year and also to the charity as a whole for the past four years, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for that. He is a huge loss to our community and I, along with everyone at DLRAA, wish Keith all of the best for his move and the future.”

“Thank you for everything Keith!”

If you are inspired by Keith and would like to enquire about donating your time and becoming a volunteer, please click here