The Mudgee Hospital Auxiliary is enjoying a bump in trade since making the move to their new shop, and what's good for the Auxiliary is good for the patients - with the group able to recently contribute important pieces items of medical equipment.
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The organisation of volunteer members run the shop - and in some cases make the stock - that sells craft items, clothing, gifts, books, and more. And in a sign of the times, they've recently had a member making face masks.
All the money generated by the shop is channelled back into the Hospital to help fund the purchase of the latest, up-to-date equipment. Which is complemented by the group's other fundraising activities.
And since setting up shop in the new Mudgee Hospital, the old real estate mantra "location, location, location" has rang true, as they enjoy the benefits of a prominent spot.
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"This is such a good position for our shop, the only people who don't have to go past here are the people from Emergency - everybody that needs to go to anywhere else in the Hospital goes past here," Auxiliary president, Jan Bransgrove, said.
"So that's been a real bonus for us."
And a stronger performing shop - which now also has EFTPOS - arrived just when it was needed. With the group's other fundraising activities put on hold with the pandemic, which is why it's been a while since you would've seen some of the ladies at the desk in the CBD.
"A good part of the money does come from the shop, especially this year, because usually we would have two raffles through the year - Mother's Day and Christmas - and they're good fundraisers, but they haven't happened this year," Jan said.
"So the shop has been our main source. Although we are fortunate and we get quite a few donations from the public.
"It's all done voluntarily by the Auxiliary members and a lot of them do a lot of the craftwork. And we have members of the public who send items in to be sold.
"So everything we make goes to the hospital."
The fruits of their recent efforts have been shared around as well. Jan added, "in the last 12 months it's been Maternity, Theatre, Emergency Department, and Tilecote - so we've helped virtually every department in the Hospital".
Which certainly hasn't gone unnoticed, Health Service Manager Caren Harrison said, "we couldn't do without our wonderful Hospital Auxiliary, they're angels".
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