The Bradley County Medical Center Auxiliary continues to support the hospital through fundraising and volunteer service, with its Thrift Shop playing a key role in meeting hospital needs.
The BCMC Auxiliary is a volunteer organization whose primary mission is to raise money for Bradley County Medical Center. When the hospital’s gift shop faced possible closure, auxiliary members sought an alternative fundraising option. That effort led to the opening of the Auxiliary Thrift Shop in May 2019.
Auxiliary members Freddie Lipton and Linda Gardner visited a hospital in Harrison to learn how its thrift shop operated and brought those ideas back to Bradley County. The auxiliary borrowed
$1,000 from the hospital gift shop, which was also operated by the auxiliary at the time, to launch the project. The loan was repaid by June 19.
Lipton and Gardner also gathered initial inventory by visiting garage sales. The thrift shop began with one room at the Brunson Medical Complex and has since expanded to three rooms, with plans for further growth.
All items sold at the thrift shop are donated, and 100 percent of the proceeds benefit the hospital. The auxiliary originally set a goal of raising $800 per month and now exceeds that amount.
Since opening, funds raised by the thrift shop have been used to purchase blanket warmers for the emergency room, rolling recliners for the Senior Care Unit, televisions for patient rooms, sliding doors for the Brunson complex, automatic doors and windows for the Rural Health Center, gurneys for transporting patients from the emergency room to the helipad, a vein finder, patient chairs for the laboratory, furniture for the conference room and doctor’s house, and computers for the hospital’s training room.
Lipton said the auxiliary’s next projects include purchasing nine new wheelchairs for the hospital and resuscitation kits for home health nurses.
The thrift shop accepts most donated items, excluding clothing. Coats are accepted during the winter months. Household items, outdoor items and shoes are welcome. Gardner said some of the more surprising items sold have included a lawn mower and a real mink stole.
Lipton recalled an instance when an unhoused individual received a donated pair of shoes from the shop and later returned to pay for them. “We do this to help others. We did not expect him to
come back,” she said.
The auxiliary also assists individuals affected by house fires by distributing donated items when available. The thrift shop carries jewelry, kitchen items, figurines, bedding, wheelchairs, canes and seasonal items, including Christmas trees, all at discounted prices.
Those interested in joining the BCMC Auxiliary may do so for annual dues of $5, along with a commitment to volunteer hours. Interested individuals may call or visit the thrift shop for more information.
The BCMC Auxiliary Thrift Shop is located at the Brunson Medical Complex on North Bragg
Street and is open Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
