St John Alexandra has been given a $100,000 boost to help replace its ageing ambulance fleet.
The charity is set to get a new ambulance in August, thanks to the grant from the Central Lakes Trust.
St John fundraising manager south and national gifts in wills manager Debbie Zwies said the organisation was ‘‘very grateful’’ for the grant, which would allow the purchase of a ‘‘much-needed’’ generation 4 emergency ambulance to support frontline teams in Alexandra in the Central Otago response area.
‘‘Over an average 12-month period in Alexandra and the Central Otago Region, an individual transporting ambulance responds to over 1500 incidents with around 32% triaged as life-threatening or time-critical.
‘‘Without the support of CLT and other trusts, foundations, individuals and corporate donors, we simply wouldn’t be able to do what we do,’’ she said.
Social and emergency services was the focus of the first Central Lakes Trust grants round for the 2023 financial year with more than $2.6 million approved at its May meeting — that represents 28% of the trust’s grants budget of $9.45 million.
More than 30 of the approved grants were associated with social service provision in the region.
Grants approved included Central Lakes Family Services $85,000; WAI Wanaka $85,000; Sport Otago $60,000; Alexandra Community Advice Network $10,000.
Project grants approved included AWE Festival AWE Festival 2023 $40,000; Central Otago Regional Choir Concert Series 2023 $7933; Roxburgh Entertainment Centre sound system replacement $21,774; and WoolOn Creative and Fashion Society WoolOn 2023 $14,000.
