A day of celebration in Hanover.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday at the new St. John Ambulance building to mark the official opening.
It took a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this point — but Branch Manager Kathy Murphy Ermel says it has all paid off.
She says the new four thousand square foot facility for St. John Ambulance in Hanover almost doubles that of the old building.
It also sports three garage bays (the old one only had two) larger rooms, more washrooms and best of all its barrier free.
The 400 thousand dollar project is a shared venture between the Hanover Raceway and St. John Ambulance.
Hanover Raceway covered 75 per cent of the project to a tune of 300 thousand dollars, and St. John is responsible for the last 100 thousand.
Of that 100 thousand — St. John Ambulance has managed to raise 40 thousand to date.
Covering all of Grey, Bruce and Huron Counties — Murphy Ermel says St. John Ambulance is a stable in community service for the region.
She notes St. John Ambulance trains over six thousand people a year and runs a very large and successful dog therapy program.
There are over 130 people who volunteer more than 13 thousand hours a year for St. John Ambulance.
Murphy Ermel says St. John Ambulance has and will continue to make a positive impact on the local communities.
This is the first new St. John Ambulance build project to take place in Ontario over the last several years.
