A gift shop that's MORE than a gift shop

Happy New Year, everyone...hope 2010 brings good things your way. At the VMC Foundation, I'd like to start the year by celebrating a sometimes underappreciated part of our organization: The VMC Gift Shop.

Managed by Kathy Trutz and staffed by volunteers, our gift shop is a really special place. That's a group of our volunteers there in the photo, pitching in to build the new VMC Bed Building.

NOTE TO BLDG. & TRADES COUNCIL: YOUR HUMBLE BLOGGER IS JUST KIDDING! OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE POWERFUL, YET NOT SUITED TO CONSTRUCT A HOSPITAL. HONOR LABOR!

So why is our gift shop more than a gift shop? It's really a place of refuge and community. Patients might go there to buy a book while waiting for an appointment, but what they'll find is a team of caring people willing to listen. Even VMC's staff visit to escape, share a laugh with a volunteer, or pick up a gift for a friend. Let's face it, many of our daily schedules don't leave room for shopping.

The intent may be that the gift shop is a place for family and friends to buy something nice for their loved one while staying at VMC...but over the years, it's become known as the place where you can just escape for little while. In fact, during last year's audit of the VMC Foundation, the gift shop was figured as a program expense, not just a fund raiser...that's how powerful the human element is.

Oh - and of course, everything is low-priced, high quality, and every dime of "profit" gets donated right back to VMC. So, next time you are visiting your public hospital, stop in and brouse...you'll be surprised what you find, and delighted with whom you meet.