Maltese secures $50,000 for new ambulance

State Senator Serphin Maltese has secured a grant to help fund the West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department’s purchase of a brand new ambulance.
Through a capital grant, the department will receive $50,000 toward a new ambulance whose cost is expected to reach $140,000, as reported in The Courier Sun last week.
The new ambulance will replace the 16-year-old model currently being used by the West Hamilton Beach volunteers.
Maltese worked with the Empire State Development Corporation, a citywide organization that acted as a conduit for the grant.
As opposed to a member item grant, which allows the beneficiary certain leeway as far as how to spend the money, a capital grant requires that the funding go toward a pre-specified source — in this case, the new vehicle.
Department Chief Jonah Cohen expressed gratitude in the support shown not only by Maltese, but also Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer and Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, each of whom has provided the department with monetary contributions in the last year.
“We’ve been lucky to have the politicians on our side,” said Cohen. “They do what they can with what they have available to them. They help out a lot of volunteer organizations in their regions.”
“The grant is a big help,” added Department Secretary and Certified E.M.T. Christine Ford. “It gives us some start-up money, and that’s what gets the ball rolling.”
A spokesperson for Maltese said the senator works to provide regular grants to all volunteer medical organizations in his district.
Addabbo said he tries to give the department as much money as possible each year, but wishes he could give even more.
“I’ve always loved that organization,” said Addabbo. “They do what they do not because they have to, but because they want to.”
Though grateful for the funding, Cohen said financing the ambulance will still be a challenge. First of all, he explained, the grant requires that the department raise the grant money themselves in order to be reimbursed for it.
“We’re still going to have to find a way to raise that money in order to receive the funding,” Cohen said. “Plus, we have to pay finance charges on the money we do borrow, so that brings the cost up a little.”
Therefore, said Cohen, the department will continue to work hard to raise money, beginning with a Winter Wonderland Holiday Dinner Dance on Saturday, December 8.
The event, to begin at 8 p.m. at the Howard Beach Motor Boat Club, is open to the public. It is one of many fundraisers the department plans to hold over the next few months.
Tickets are $25, and can be purchased by calling the West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department at 718-843-1716.