After more than a decade of trying to secure a , the Congers-Valley Cottage Ambulance Corps. officially held its dedication ceremony Saturday for its new location.
The state-of-the-art building is located at 122 Kings Highway in Congers and is 9,350 square feet. The previous building, which was 6,500 square feet, was at the same location and demolished earlier this year. In the meantime, the corps operated out of a building on Route 9W.
“We’ve got a great facility here and I look at today as the beginning of a new chapter for Congers-Valley Cottage Ambulance Corps,” said Andrew Gioseffi, chair of the ambulance corps’ board of directors. “The only thing we could really hope for is more of our residents come talk to us, find out what it’s about, find out what we do, find out about the ways we need help and assistance.”
The day featured talks by current and former members of the ambulance corps and town officials. The building was open so guests could walk around, and there was also a bounce house for kids plus food.
The building was made possible thanks to the corps and Town of Clarkstown teaming up to pay for the building, which cost a little less than $3 million.
“This is a great building that will continue to house a great organization. It will stand proudly not only as brick and mortar structure, but as a symbol of what these dedicated volunteers perform and a symbol of what local government can do, and should do, to assist those volunteer organizations in our community, those individuals that make our community great and special,” said Town Supervisor Alex Gromack. “It’s a symbol of what can be accomplished when people work together to assist each other and overcome challenges through collaboration and cooperation. By working together to finance the construction of this building, the Town of Clarkstown and the ambulance corps saved the residents of Congers and Valley Cottage over $1.6 million.”
Congers-Valley Cottage Ambulance Corps President Gregg Smith thanked the town for making the building possible.
“If anyone asks you how many people it takes to build an ambulance corps building, just tell them a whole lot,” he said.
“We had a situation where we were going to take on this project ourselves and when situations happened with financing, the town stepped up. Supervisor Gromack and the rest of the Town Council led us to the march on this building, and he took over driving the bus and we’ve very thankful for that.”
