Boca Raton Community Hospital’s thrift shop is raising money for a move next year.
The Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League Thrift Shoppe plans to relocate in the spring from 800 Meadows Road on the hospital campus across the street to a building with more space and parking at 903 Meadows Road. The league purchased the facility for $1.6 million, said Henry Holmes, the league’s president.
The current building is 7,600 square feet; the new building will give the shop an additional 400 square feet. The thrift shop has 15 parking spaces, but they are in the hospital employee lot, so they often are filled.
“Sometimes there isn’t a single parking spot,” said Alda Harmon, a longtime customer. “You end up having to park on the grass or somewhere out in the hinterlands.”
Harmon, who refers to the shop as “Treasure Island,” says she shops there for the “thrill of the hunt.” She looks forward to the new location because shoppers and employees won’t have to compete for parking.
“We’re delighted to be moving,” said Ruth McGoldrick, shop chairwoman. “We need the parking, and the building we’re in is getting old.”
McGoldrick says she’s had at least 10 conversations a week with shoppers who were frustrated with parking. Some of them simply gave up and left after a fruitless search for a space.
The current building is 36 years old and the shop is 39. It opened before the hospital was built and operated out of a church for two and a half years. When it moved to its current location, the shop shared space with the architects and contractors who were building the hospital.
The future home of the thrift shop needs work before the move takes place. The 15-year-old building was home to seven doctors’ offices.
“We’re going to have to totally renovate the building,” McGoldrick said. “When all is said and done, it could cost between $250,000 and $300,000.”
The move got a boost in August when Countess Henrietta de Hoernle, a local philanthropist and thrift shop volunteer, promised to match all donations up to $1 million, the hospital announced.
Two weeks later Belle Deitch, also a volunteer, made a $500,000 donation. Deitch is one of the original members of the group that runs the shop, the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League.
The thrift shop has set up a committee to raise the remaining $500,000 it needs to take full advantage of Hoernle’s offer. Committee members have sent out letters asking for donations and are meeting with potential donors.
It needs the money by Feb. 15, the closing date on the new property, Holmes said.
The current building, which is on hospital property adjacent to the hospital itself, will be torn down, according to hospital spokeswoman Betsy Whisman. The hospital will use the land for expansion.
The shop raises $400,000 to $500,000 a year to support the hospital by selling donated items. It has raised more than $8 million in the last 20 years. The money goes to the hospital’s general operating fund, which helps pay for everything from salaries to maintaining equipment to supporting the hospital’s intensive-care nursery.
“Everything we sell is given with love to our hospital,” McGoldrick said. “We get furniture, cars, boats, golf carts, just about everything.”
Even the time of those who staff the shop is a gift. More than 100 people who keep the shop running are volunteers.
To contribute, call the thrift shop expansion campaign office at 561-393-4160.
