A station in a year

An artists impression of the new Katikati St John facility to be constructed on the site next to the new fire station. KAM 10Apr14 - kk070414sp09 AN artists impression of the new Katikati St John

The St John 365 - Build in a Year campaign to raise $800,000 for a new Katikati St John Ambulance Station was launched at a special breakfast function this morning.

The invitation-only event was expected to draw about 60 guests who were given an insight into the need for the new station and plans for how to raise the community share of the funds.

Spokesperson for the campaign Kate Williams said donations started to arrive even before the official launch.

"This is so typical of the generosity of the Katikati community and the high esteem in which St John is held. This demonstration of support helps significantly with our applications to large funding organisations," she said.

Plans for the new state-of-the-art station, which will also serve as a base in civil defence emergencies, have already been drawn up for the land adjacent to the new Katikati Fire Station in Sheffield St.

St John Katikati has met the $230,000 cost of the land and has a further $230,000 set aside for the building, leaving $800,000 still to raise.

The current station, built about 18 years ago, was too small now Katikati St John has two ambulances and four full-time ambulance officers, supported by up to 10 volunteers.

"There is only garaging for one ambulance, which means the other must stay outside. The overnight accommodation for officers on-call is no longer adequate, nor are the office, kitchen and training facilities," Ms Wililams said.

"When the original station was built, Katikati had a population of around 2500, but today that figure is 4059, and there are another 5000 people in the rural area the brigade also serves, and a further 2500 at Omokoroa."

The campaign committee, which has several of its own projects in the pipeline, was also seeking the support of local businesses, clubs, organisations and individuals to make donations or hold fundraising events.

Donations can be made at Eves Katikati or the Katikati Community Resource Centre.