Emergency medical services, like fire department services on the South Fork, are mostly volunteer. The East Hampton Village Ambulance Association is a group of trained, volunteer responders. While it is separate from the East Hampton Fire Department, it shares space in the East Hampton Village Emergency Services Building.
The busiest ambulance on the South Fork, volunteers answer more than 1,300 calls per year. Squads are on-call, but not in-house, at night.
The Springs Fire Department is the newest fire department on the South Fork. It was formed in 1965 when a small group of men decided it was time that the Springs area of East Hampton have its own fire department, instead of being served by the East Hampton Fire Department. Helmets and gear were donated to the department, then the fire district purchased a piece of property on Fort Pond Boulevard to build a firehouse and an old pumper for just $1. In the 1970s, the department was opened to women and an ambulance company was added.
Friends of Jimmy Ernst, a renowned abstract painter, formed the Jimmy Ernst Artists Alliance in his memory in 1984. A not-for-profit corporation with a membership of professional artists, it is now known as the Artists Alliance of East Hampton. The group hosts studio tours for the public, lectures and presentations, as well as community outreach programs such as workshops for high school students.
Chabdad Lubavitch of the Hamptons is located on Woods Lane in East Hampton Villgae. Rabbi Leibel Baumgarten and his wife Goldie run the Chabad House, offering youth programs, adult education courses, community holiday awareness, and celebrations, as well as hospital, nursing home and shut-in visitations.
The East Hampton Chamber of Commerce has an office on Gingerbread Lane in East Hampton Village. An executive director keeps office hours, and there is also a board of directors made up of business owners in the greater East Hampton area, including Montauk, Springs, Wainscott, and Amagansett.
The Ross School is a co-educational boarding and day school located on two campuses. Seventh to 12th grade students study in East Hampton, while nursery schoolers to fourth graders attend classes in Bridgehampton. More than 500 domestic and international students attend Ross, and the faculty is largely international. The school's mission is to prepare students for meaningful lives and leadership in the local and global community. Faculty, students and families are encouraged to participate in a variety of activities, from environmental cleanups to raising money for local causes.
Started in the late 1800s, the East Hampton Fire Department was founded by local businessmen. Today, it is still a volunteer organization. Over 140 members makeup six companies that respond to structure and brush fires and major accidents in the East Hampton Fire District, which stretches from Northwest Woods to East Hampton Village's ocean beaches. The fire department headquarters is apart of the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street.
The Ladies Village Improvement Society is the oldest organization in East Hampton. The society began in 1895 when 21 housewives came together to pay to have the dusty streets watered down and to clean up the old railroad station in the growing village. With more than 400 members today, the LVIS spends $60,000 each year caring for the village greens, including Town Pond, maintains a nature trail, plants and watches over trees, arranges for the display of American flags, and hands out scholarships. The annual LVIS fair, a favorite summer event, has been held for 114 years.
In 1987, the organization purchased the rundown Gardiner Brown House, which dates to 1740, renovated it and moved in two years later. Its headquarters houses the ever popular thrift shops, Bargain Books and Bargain Box Thrift Shop, which are staffed by volunteers who sell donated clothes, furniture, household goods, knickknacks and books.