Bert McCollum
1980 saw Bert McCollum in the chair and the Club fully committed to the Ambulance Project which he had initiated the previous year. The city council made available a block of land in Ray Small Drive, Rob Bersma drew his fifth plan for an Ambulance Station in Papakura and the Club set out to raise $200,000 to build the station and equip it with a Life Support Unit. The major fundraising was a direct telephone appeal aimed at soliciting donations and enrolling members.
Barry Hobman started building the station in August 1980 and the telephone appeal commenced on the evening of the 17th September. Three hundred people manned the phones and jammed the lines between Manurewa and Papakura. The next day money began to flow into the A.S.8. and within a month we were so confident of success that the Life Support Unit was ordered to be ready when the station was finished. From the appeal over six thousand people joined the organisation and many thousands of those are still members.
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The Governor General officially opened the station and the new Life Support Unit was dedicated on 11th April 1981 - less than seven months after the appeal was launched. This magnificent result - with all Club members participating - was a tribute to the organisation of Ken Green’s committee who gave unstintingly of their time and skills. You may have better luck identifying folks in this photo.
We were visited by members of the Shimonoseki East Rotary Club from Japan.
Alan Herkt and Ken Green were made our second and third Paul Harris Fellows.