Breaking News! 
A generous supporter has agreed to match all donations
received after September 15, 2025.
Your donations will now help us twice as much!

Donations can also be sent to:

             HQ Fund Drive
           Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps
           PO Box 924
           Riverhead, NY 11901

Questions about this fund drive and information on available sponsoring opportunities
can be sent to the above address or emailed to: HQFundDrive@RiverheadVAC.com

Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps

Protecting our community – 24/7/365

RVAC needs more space!

We've grown to keep up with Riverhead’s needs.
We’ve now outgrown our facilities.

Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides round-the-clock emergency medical care for 30,000 Riverhead residents and countless visitors.

When we started the volunteer based emergency service in 1978, we had 2 van style ambulances, which were housed in a garage behind the old Riverhead Police Department Headquarters on West Main Street. We spent in-house duty tours in a small office in police headquarters. Members primarily responded to calls from home or their place of work.

In our first full year of operations RVAC answered 700 emergency calls. We answered 1,200 calls in 1989, when we moved into our current headquarters on Osborn Avenue. We this year we are on track to answer 6,000 calls. With Riverhead's expanding and aging population, our call volume is expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future. 

In order to keep up with the steadily increasing number of calls for assistance, we have increased our staffing from the 17 founding members in 1978 to our current roster of 110 active volunteers and 40 part- and full-time employees. Our ambulance fleet has increased from 2 to 5, and we have added 5 First Response vehicles and 2 quads to reach patients on our beaches, farms and other off-road locations. All of this equipment does not fit in our current facilities. One ambulance and all first reaponse vehicles are parked outside, prone to overheating in the summer and freezing in the winter. 

Our Plans for the Future

We now have the means and permissions necessary to replace our current Headquarters with a modern, purpose-built building that will meet our needs now and in the future. We will be able to park all of our emergency vehicles indoors, something we have not been able to do for more than a decade. We will have dedicated decontamination rooms and adequate storage for our equipment and supplies. And our duty crews will have spaces to work, study and relax as they wait for the next call. 

While we have the permissions and funding to move forward with this, the financing is tight. If we finance the entire construction cost we will not have much left for maintaining, replacing and upgrading critical emergency equipment and vehicles. This is why we are asking for donnations. We have been answering our community's calls for help for 47 years. We are now asking our community to answer our call. Please help us deliver the quality of care you deserve and we want to provide!

We are always ready to answer your calls for help. 
Are you ready to answer ours?