Corps gets $25G for senior center

Borough President Helen Marshall presented a check for $25,000 to the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps, located at 78-15 Jamaica Avenue, last week.
The money, along with $15,000 total allocations from City Councilmembers Elizabeth Crowley and Eric Ulrich, Assemblymember Mike Miller and Senator Joseph Addabbo, will go toward the relocation of The Woodhaven Senior Center to the Corps.
At the beginning of the year, the Corps, facing a cash crunch, began charging patients’ insurance companies for services rendered. Their operational budget is fluid and changes from year to year, according to vice president Sean Graves. Funding comes primarily from donations, grants and money from elected officials.
In an effort to open a revenue stream, they plan to house the Woodhaven Senior Center at the Corps’ building – and collect rent.
The Department of Buildings still has to approve plans and renovations have to be done, according to Kathy Dalbey, who, along with her sister, Kelly Sexton, runs the Corps – founded by their dad, Timothy, 45 years ago.
Dalbey said the senior center will occupy the back room, and the rent will definitely help.
Though she said she is unsure as to when they will move in, she is hoping for July 1.
The Woodhaven seniors had been temporarily transported to the Richmond Hill Center after the space they were in was needed by a local church.