NANTUCKET – The Hospital Thrift Shop continued with its generous annual gift to Nantucket Cottage Hospital on Monday.
The thrift shop donated $386,000 to the hospital, continuing its 89-year tradition of generous giving. The money will be used to purchase new medical equipment and other capital items, as well as handmade furniture for the new hospital.
“The Board is thrilled to be able to present this check to the hospital,” said Brenda Williams, the President of the Thrift Shop’s Board of Directors.
“We want to express our gratitude to our management, all of our volunteers, and the many donors and shoppers who made this possible.”
The Hospital Thrift Shop sells merchandise donated by island residents and visitors – anything from used books to furniture to artwork – from mid-May through mid-October, and operates as a separate non-profit organization.
“Every year the hospital puts together a wish list of things, like capital items and medical equipment, things that are just simply not in the budget, and we go over that list with the Board of Directors of the thrift shop and come to an agreement on things they feel comfortable funding for the hospital,” said Hospital Spokesman Jason Graziadei.
“We’re very excited to receive this gift, as we do every year from the thrift shop. The thrift shop has been in business for 89 years now, so it’s kind of been a staple of support for the hospital.”
The new equipment that will be purchased by the hospital with this year’s donation from the Thrift Shop includes an EKG machine, a defibrillator, an ultrasound device, a trauma stretcher, a CPR machine, a portable digital X-ray machine, a cooling/warming blanket system, a platelet incubator/agitato system, as well as a TUG robot system and new workflow software.
The Thrift Shop was founded in 1929 when a group of dedicated volunteers came together to provide affordable clothes and household goods to the island community.
“You think about a thrift shop and you don’t think about these kind of big numbers, especially one that’s only open for a portion of the year. It’s really a great story,” Graziadei said.
“We were thrilled to receive this gift again from the thrift shop and are just really thankful to all of their volunteers, their staff, their board, and everyone who went down and shopped at any point this year.”
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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