Marion Post takes top award

The award to the Marion post was made for its continual ambulance fund drive, held since the 1950s. The most recent drive raised more than $165,000 to buy the town a new, completely outfitted ambulance. The post has bought nine ambulances over the decades, said current Post Commander John Robarge, 70, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Air Force.

“I heard that back before the post did this, people were loaded into the back of a cruiser to take them to the hospital,’’ Robarge said. “And the first ambulance the post bought was an old hearse post members converted into an ambulance.’’

The post does an ambulance fund-raising drive every six years or so, he said, each one taking about a year and a half. In the last one, 22 percent of Marion residents donated, Robarge said, adding: “This is something that could save their lives.’’ The rest came from a couple of anonymous Marion donors who made sizable cash contributions to the cause.

The most recent ambulance cost about $150,000 and another $15,000 to outfit, Robarge said. In the late 1990s, when the last one was bought, it cost around $90,000.

National VFW officials said there are 2.1 million post members in 7,800 posts worldwide, and last year members cumulatively contributed more than 13 million hours of community service valued at more than $334 million.

There are about 180 members in the Marion post, Robarge said, a considerable dip from the 400 when he joined two decades ago. But, he said, it’s understandable in that newly returning vets have families to raise and jobs to attend to that can preclude them from joining.

“Myself, I didn’t join until years after I got out of the service,’’ Robarge said. “It’s not like it was after World War II, they all went in together, came out together, knew everyone in town. It’s different now.’’

ORR TEACHER HONORED: Jean Hong served the Old Rochester Regional School District teaching art at the regional high school for 43 years - just three years short of the age of the district itself, which was formed in 1962. For her work, Hong, who retired at the end of the last school year, was presented with a plaque honoring her as an “ORR Teacher Emeritus.’’ The request to do so came from two of her colleagues, Merrideth Wickman and Teresa Dall. Dall also spoke at the presentation ceremony, noting her friend and colleague’s laudable contributions through the years to her students.

FALLON HELPS SENIOR PROGRAM: Quincy-based Fallon Ambulance Service has partnered with Norfolk County Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti in the day-to-day operations of the sheriff’s “Are You OK?’’ program after budget shortfalls threatened to eliminate it. Begun in 2001, the program is an in-home service for senior citizens living alone, with each registered senior getting an automated phone call every day at a specified time to check on their well-being. The partnership is saving the sheriff’s department $70,000 a year, Bellotti said. There are currently more than 280 seniors from 26 Norfolk County communities who are registered and receive the calls each day.

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Norwood Hospital’s annual gala fund-raiser is scheduled for Nov. 14 at the Quincy Marriott, to benefit the hospital’s Pain Management Center, which opened last April. and provides treatment for a variety of conditions including pain associated with shingles, fibromyalgia, spinal stenosis, surgery, trauma, neuromas, and chronic regional pain syndrome. Susan Dowling may be contacted by anyone wanting to get involved in the gala’s preparation or to buy tickets, at susan.dowling@caritaschristi.org.

For information on the pain center, call 781-278-6524.

Paul E. Kandarian can be reached at kandarian@globe.com.