Several dozen people stopped off at Accents on Antiques in Pelham Thursday for the shop’s 17th annual celebration.
, which opened in 1995, was started by the Pelham chapter of Friends of with the purpose of supporting the hospital.
During Thursday’s event, a live auction and special dealer discounts were held with the proceeds earmarked for the Medical Center’s emergency room $7 million emergency room expansion project. A special check presentation was also held to represent the $60,000 the antique shop raised for the hospital last year.
“For us, this is our big fundraiser,” said Celeste Coughlin, board president of Accents on Antiques. “We do a lot of smaller things like Mothers Day and Valentines Day sales ...We do whatever we can do to generate extra revenue.”
Coughlin said about 60 people volunteered their time with the shop, which raises about $60,000 annually for the enhancement of various hospital services. The shop has raised about $1 million for the hospital since it opened.
Items are either donated or consigned to the shop by various vendors and people in the community.
Coughlin said the shop is alway on the lookout for volunteers.
“As long as they are breathing, we’ll be happy to have them volunteer,” Coughlin said. “Many of the women who are volunteering have been with us since we first opened.”
John Spicer, president and CEO of Sound Shore Medical Center, said the anniversary celebration was just as much a way of saying thanks to the volunteers as it was a fundraiser.
“All the money this year goes to the emergency room, which we are going to try and renovate, so it’s a good event for us,” Spicer said. “It’s a good community event.”
Spicer is hopeful the emergency room expansion will begin in the fall. So far, the hospital has about $4 million for the project and hopes to raise the remaining $3 million, or so, through fundraising during the next couple of years.
“The emergency room we have is really undersized for the volume of patients we receive,” Spicer said. “We see about 40,000 patients a year and the size, right now, is more suited for about 25,000.”
Auction items that were available at the event included guitars signed by Les Paul and Willie Nelson, crystal and brass Tiffany-style lamps, and other antiques. Raffle items included a Louisville Slugger baseball bat signed by Derek Jeter, $50 gift certificates for the Bistro Rollin restaurant and a “Shop Pelham Basket” comprised of items from various Pelham merchants.
Ron Gantz of Gantz Gallery was the auctioneer for the evening.
Coughlin said she hoped to raise $5,000 to $6,000 from Thursday's event.
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