Just 62 years ago, in the summer of 1939, a group of members of Hose Company Number 4 of the old Teaneck Volunteer Fire Department decided that Teaneck needed an ambulance corps which could serve its residents, then about 23,000 strong, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and without charge. Prior to this time, the township was served by ambulances operated by local hospitals which offered irregular response times and often little more than transportation.

The driving force was Cornelius Van Dyk, a member of the Hose Company who was then the town's animal warden. Since he lived and worked in Teaneck he felt that he, and others, would be available at any time of the day and night to respond to an emergency.

Van Dyk located an ambulance in a small town in Ohio which could be purchased inexpensively, and he and Jimmy Thompson journeyed to Ohio to bring the rig to Teaneck. The unit was a 1936 LaSalle which looked very much like a hearse, somewhat like transport ambulances used by some private services today, which carried minimal equipment.

They devoted their time to raise enough money to buy it. Van Dyk and Thompson appeared with the ambulance all over town, personally soliciting contributions, many of which were as small as a quarter. They formed a nonprofit corporation and named it the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Today the Corps has 75 active, highly trained members, hundreds of alumni, three modern ambulances, crew quarters, kitchen facilities and sleeping accommodations for six or more members. The Corps now serves a community of 40,000, with three highways, two nursing homes and a large university.

Throughout the last 62 years the Corps has never charged a patient or the patient's family for service. The services of the Corps are entirely free of charge, whether the patients are Teaneck residents, visitors, or people who need medical service while passing through the town. The Corps also renders service in nearby towns as part of a mutual aid system, again without charge.

In fact, the most important word in the name of the organization is "volunteer", an identification the members zealously protect. In recent years, the Corps has averaged 3,500 runs a year and the total number of calls made in the last sixty years is estimated at between 120,000 and 150,000, every one without a charge.