BROOKLYN, N.Y. — There’s no telling what the members of the Bed Stuy Volunteer Ambulance Corps will find on an emergency call, but each day, commanding officer Antoine Robinson says, they’re ready to step in.

The all-volunteer group is battling back from the brink after the death of Robinson’s father, James Rocky Robinson in 2019, who founded the group during the crack epidemic that ravaged the neighborhood in the eighties. As a part of the city’s emergency medical services network, 2020 marked a low point for the corps ability to respond to calls effectively with its fleet down to just one ambulance.

“That vehicle pretty much wasn’t functional. It could basically get you from here to a local hospital” said Robinson.

Now, after donations, a fundraising campaign and a boost of community support, they’re in much better shape.

“Today we stand proud that we have three functional vehicles. We wish we could run all three vehicles 24-7, seven days a week, [but] the numbers are not there yet," Robinson said.

The corps is hoping to attract more volunteers and to continue to provide the CPR training and EMT certification classes that have helped countless residents. Among them, Keith Brown credits Rocky Robinson for helping him into his career.

“He said ‘I’m going to put you in an EMT class.’ I said ‘no commander I just want to be a driver.’  He said ‘nope I’m putting you in a class.’ He put me in a class and it’s nine years now later and I’m still here” said Brown.

It’s a legacy the corps is striving to continue for future generations.