The Irene & Company Auxiliary Boutique is back in business.
The Colusa Medical Center gift shop celebrated its reopening on Thursday during the hospital’s resource and career fair, which served to introduce the public to the hospital’s growing list of services.
The Auxiliary had limited their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the group that has been around since 1965 are back doing what they do best – welcoming people with smiles, offering to help those in need, and working in the gift shop to raise money for hospital renovations and equipment.
Although the Auxiliary has served the community for nearly six decades, their dedication has never faltered, even during a time when recruiting volunteers to any organization is difficult.
“We’ve sadly lost quite a few of our volunteers, but we are not going to give up,” Auxiliary member Shiela Etchepare said.
Irene & Company, named for the late Irene Grenfell, who founded the Auxiliary in 1965, is as determined as ever to recruit new blood. For the first time in the organization’s history, the group hopes to start a Junior Auxiliary, which will open volunteer opportunities to youth.
“Meanswhile, applications for our regular Auxiliary are available at the front counter (of the hospital),” Etchepare said.
Hospital volunteers, originally known as candy stripers or Pink Ladies, were once considered vital to hospital operations, and often worked under the direct supervision of nurses.
Today, volunteers are mostly needed to work in the gift shop, which offers the public yet another place to shop for unique and high quality items.
The Irene & Company Auxiliary gift shop will be open from 1-4 PM on Thursdays until more volunteers are inducted into the organization.
“Right now it’s very limited, but we hope with more volunteers that changes,” Etchepare said.
The Auxiliary is working with two local churches, led by Rev. Ron McHattie, of the Colusa First Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Jason McMullan, of the Williams Community Church, to spread the word among the young people of their congregations that volunteerism is vital for the survival of the hospital and community. ■