How this ‘slightly worn hat’ just raised an enormous amount of money for our firefighters
Actor Russell Crowe has teamed up with a billionaire businessman to raise some much-needed funds for our firefighters.
The Gladiator star’s rural property at Nana Glen was largely saved from the bushfires by the Rural Fire Service.
As he continues to mop up and survey the destruction Rusty decided to auction off his “slightly worn cap”, covered in sweat and ash.
Should I auction this hat off?
Signed and personalised to the highest bidder?
I’ll double or triple the winning bid and donate the $ to the @NSWRFS .24 hours . Winning bidder contacted by DM. pic.twitter.com/nyyKMHGJm9
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) November 27, 2019
He promised to match the winning bid after a 24-hour auction run on his social media account.
After sitting around $5000 for much of the day, Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes – the co-founder of software company Atlassian – jumped in at the last minute with a $100,000 bid.
Shortly after, Atlassian’s other co-founder Scott Farquhar donated another $100,000 followed by Ryan Smith, co-founder and chief executive of US software company Qualtrics, matching the donation.
$400,000 will be donated to 19 different RFS brigades on the NSW Mid North Coast.
So from a random, silly idea;
twitter auctioning this slightly used hat … atleast $400,000 Australian has landed with @NSWRFS today. I also see lots of people have got onboard & given what they can.
Thank you. pic.twitter.com/Lsda3HYb8W— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) November 29, 2019
NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons tells Ben Fordham it’s “truly wonderful”.
“What a wonderful demonstration of the community spirit we’ve got right across Australia and further afield.”
Click PLAY below to hear the full interview