Hospital Thrift Store Cashes In On Volunteer Spirit

In June, the Gingham Tree Resale Shop will celebrate its 40th anniversary as a major fundraiser for Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, IL.

In fact, the shop is two years older than the hospital it supports. In the past 10 years Gingham Tree, located on the southeast corner of the hospital campus, has raised more than $2.1 million to support projects at the hospital that include upgrades to the Level 1 trauma emergency department and the pediatrics unit, a renovation of the cardiac catheterization lab, and new operating equipment for the surgical suites.

The shop, which is owned and operated by the hospital auxiliary, was one of four programs to receive the American Hospital Association's 2013 Hospital Award for Volunteer Excellence (HAVE) for "extraordinary efforts of volunteer programs and the positive impact their contributions have on the patients, hospitals, health systems and communities they serve."

"We sell everything. Our motto is 'You give us good stuff. We do great things,'" says Ausra Paronis, a co-supervisor of the 80 or so volunteers who work at Gingham Tree six days a week. "We go all the way from clothing to electronics to glassware, [and] dishes. Being on the property, we get a lot of associates and volunteers who will drop by. Our visitors are some of our biggest customers; our patients who are here for a test of some kind will drop by while they are waiting for the results or if their doctor is late."

Laura Neiberg, Good Samaritan's vice president, ancillary services and community health, says Gingham Tree and its volunteers "enhance our mission in a number of ways."

"Our core competency is building loyal relationships and having the shop is another way for us to build relationships with our communities, both with the opportunity for people in our community to have a place to donate things that they no longer need or want or have the ability to use. But it is also an opportunity for those in our community who may be less fortunate to have a place where they can shop reasonably."

Neiberg says the secret to the success of Gingham Tree is the volunteers. "There is a halo effect from the fact that it sits on the hospital campus," she says. "But I don't think its success is as much because it sits on the campus as it is about the volunteers who are so creative in reaching out to the community to make sure the donations are collected and to literally bring customers in."

"They market as well as any retail store. They will market to some of the senior residences in the area that might have buses where they can people around. They will create parties and events and reasons for people to come as a destination. They create fashion shows. They take the show on the road. They will bring items that have been recently donated to the shop and they may take them to some of our corporate buildings in the area that are owned by our parent company Advocate Health Care and they will set up tables and have an opportunity to show their wares. They create a trunk show and take it on the road."

Neiberg says the hospital provides an environment that keeps the 600 or so volunteers across the hospital operations engaged and which makes it clear to them that they are appreciated.

"It's not so much about the volunteer spirits as it is about the culture we create in the hospital," she says. "We view our volunteers as part of our workforce so we treat them in a similar manner to how we treat our paid workforce. When we are having some kind of a recognition ceremony for employees we make sure volunteers are included and invited. We want to create loyalty with volunteers the same way we are cognizant of creating loyalties with physicians and associates. People are volunteering. They could decide at any time that it's not worth it to them because they're not getting paid."

"It's about recognition. It's about making sure that we are creating volunteer pride as well as creating pride in the organization they are volunteering for. It is about having volunteers feel a loyalty to the organization that they would recommend the hospital to friends and family who need care, just as you would want an associate to do that. You want to make sure you are creating a personally rewarding experience for your volunteers."

All of this volunteer spirit isn't just a bunch of feel good pabulum. In addition to the money raised by Gingham Tree, Neiberg says the hospital has studied the practical effect of its volunteers across the spectrum of hospital operations and estimated that their combined hours of free service equaled that of 35 full-time employees.

With that in mind, Good Samaritan views volunteers as critical to hospital operations and, just as with paid staff, there is a strong emphasis on recruiting and retention.

"It's not just attracting the right people, but that you are able to keep the right people," Neiberg says. "The vast majority come from people out in the community looking for an organization they can be proud of and where they feel their time is going to be valued. It's a place where they would come for care or recommend it to their friends and family. They are looking for a place where they agree with the values of the organization. It is similar to what associates are looking for. The difference is these people don't get paid."

To make it work, Neiberg says successful hospitals have to build upon the relationships their volunteers.

"You want to make sure you have positive relationships between the volunteers and the coordinators and the hospital employees they are working with," she says. "You want to make sure they don't have a high level of stress. If it becomes too much of a hassle they will take their volunteer work someplace else where they feel they will have a more personally rewarding experience."