The Rotary Club of Vienna’s annual ViVa! Vienna! celebration not only provides immediate pleasures such as carnival rides and grilled food, but subsequent donations of event proceeds help local groups and town agencies.
George Creed, the Rotary Club’s community-service director, presented checks to the Vienna Police Department, Vienna Volunteer Fire Department and Vienna Parks and Recreation Department during the group’s Service Above Self Awards luncheon on April 19 at Westwood Country Club.
The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department will put its Rotary Club donation toward the purchase of new apparatuses, said Fire Chief John Morrison.
The fire department ordered a fire engine a year and a half ago at a cost of $880,000, which is up from $575,000 a decade ago, Morrison said. And the price inflation has not abated one bit.
“If you order one today, it’s $1 million,” he said.
The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department does not have a ladder truck, but stations in Tysons and Merrifield do ,and those vehicles now cost between $1.4 million and $1.8 million, Morrison said.
Fire apparatuses last about two decades; the Vienna department is replacing a 2003 fire engine, Morrison said. Department officials hope to receive delivery of the new fire engine by year’s end and also hope replacement brush and utility vehicles will arrive in roughly the same time frame, he said.
“It’s a big fleet-turnover time,” Morrison said. “We’re replacing three vehicles that are about 20 years old . . . When you see a vehicle going down the street, like a fire engine, the Rotary Club is helping to pay for it.”
The new apparatuses will be painted red and black, which are James Madison High School’s colors. Morrison said he is working to ensure all of the department’s vehicles eventually have that same color scheme.
Town police will spend Rotary’s check on new bicycles for its bicycle team, said Vienna Police Chief James Morris. Because of budgetary restrictions, the department had to cut funding for its bike team about a decade ago. Since then, the program has been financed via donations, he said.
The Rotary Club increased its contribution to the Parks and Recreation Department this year to support its scholarship program and summer performances at the Vienna Town Green, Creed said.
