Fund Raising for an Ambulance

What We Do › Healthy Communities › Other Resources › AIHA Brochure: Safer Streets, Longer Lives: Creating A Healthy Community › Fund Raising for an Ambulance

The nearest hospital to the rural town of Turcianske Teplice is 50 kilometers away--a distance that makes the availability of an ambulance critical in life-threatening situations. Purchasing the town's first ambulance was one of the key goals set by Turcianske Teplice partners, and they achieved it within a year of beginning their healthy communities project.

Town officials appealed to local civic groups, businesses and schools in the community, as well as to officials across the country, to raise money for the ambulance. US partners in Cleveland, Ohio also enlisted the help of the Cleveland-Bratislava Sister Cities organization, which raised funds by raffling off prizes within Cleveland's Slovak community. With $40,000 from these sources, the ambulance was purchased and outfitted in early 1997.

In raising the money, the community learned several important lessons, said Jozef Turcany, chief of staff at Turcianske Teplice city hall: it's important to set up a system to recognize contributors, don't be afraid of approaching new potential contributors, and tax laws need to be changed to encourage charitable contributions.

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