Oshawa Fire Services (OFS) has named fire fighter Scott Cannata as the OFS 2019 Humanitarian of the Year.
Cannata joined Oshawa Fire Services in 2015. In his four years with OFS, he has served on the Oshawa Fire Services Technical Rescue Team, as an instructor for the car seat program and confined space trainings and made countless public speaking engagements, said an OFS media release.
Fire fighter Cannata is passionate about helping people. In addition to his career as a fire fighter, he has dedicated his life to raising funds for cancer research and inspiring hope and awareness across our country, it added.
At a time when his family was impacted by cancer, Scott took to the streets and ran from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Port Renfrew, British Columbia to raise money for cancer research. Scott ran the equivalent of 202 marathons across Canada in an effort to unite as many people as possible in the fight against cancer.
Scott continues to make appearances at events and in schools to talk about his “The Run to Live” campaign. To date, he has raised over $57,000 for cancer research.
Established in 2016, the OFS Humanitarian of the Year Award recognizes one staff member annually for their outstanding work above and beyond in the community.
“This is certainly a well-deserved honour to a fine human being,” said Councillor Rick Kerr, Chair of the Community Services Committee.
“Scott’s work raising funds and awareness for cancer solutions has been absolutely remarkable, along with his tremendous efforts in community safety. He has made our City and Oshawa Fire Services proud to call him one of our own,” said Councillor Derek Giberson, Vice-Chair of the Community Services Committee.