The foundation is deeply grateful to the volunteers of the Brandywine Consignment Shop.  Through their efforts, over $750,000 has been contributed to the community over the last 20 years.  Consignment Shop volunteers (from left) Caroline Butz, founder; Ann Katich, past president; Ellen Walter, president; Nancy Oliver, manager; and Joan Hedberg, founder.

Brandywine Consignment Shop: The Little Shop that Could

Two decades ago a small group of women interested in helping what is now Brandywine Hospital came together to launch what is now the Brandywine Consignment Shop – a venture that, over the past decade, has raised more than $750,000 for Brandywine Health Foundation-supported programs.
 
The shop in Downingtown couldn’t operate without the contributions of five dozen regular volunteers.
 
“It’s grown into a cute little consignment boutique,” says Devon’s Joan Hedberg, one of the shop’s founders. At the suggestion of her husband, Robert Hedberg, who at the time was president of the Brandywine Hospital’s board of directors, she and several friends, including Caroline Butz, hired a manager and opened the shop for business on March 3, 1992. It eventually evolved from a thrift shop to one of the few area consignment shops that offers clothing for ladies, men and children, as well as antiques, collectibles, furniture and retro items.
 
Twenty years later Hedberg and Butz still volunteer once a week at the busy shop. They keep returning to both give back to their community and for the camaraderie and friendship that has developed among the volunteers, shop manager Nancy Oliver and three other paid staff members, consigners and customers. Says Butz, a Malvern resident whose grandparents and parents were major supporters of the hospital, “My family was so involved in it that I felt it was time for me to do something to carry on that tradition of support.”
 
A volunteer at the shop since 2006, Ann Katich was president of the shop’s board of directors for two years and recently became a part-time staff member. “It’s just a way for me to give back and I think more people need to do it,” says Katich, an Exton resident. “Everybody is busy in their lives but I don’t think a lot of people realize how rewarding it is to volunteer and give back.”
 
Ellen Walter, the current board president, began volunteering at the shop in 2005 after first stopping in as a customer. “There’s just such a giving spirit that embodies what volunteering is all about, and it does my heart good to be part of it,” says Walter, of East Bradford Township. “You can give to a national charity and not see how your money is being spent.
 
“But the foundation is such a well-run organization and you can clearly see evidence of your work. The Coatesville Youth Initiative is providing needed mentors and activities for young people and, with the Brandywine Center, you can drive into Coatesville and actually see health care improvements for people who otherwise wouldn’t have it.”

View a short video featuring the Brandywine Consignment Shop.

The Brandywine Consignment Shop

368 West Uwchlan Avenue
Downingtown, PA 19335
610-269-8622
Web Site
 
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10am-5pm

Wednesday 10am-6pm

Friday &
Saturday 10am-3pm
Closed during July

By The Numbers

60
Volunteers
 
800
Annual consigners
 
$750,000+
Amount the consignment shop has raised for Brandywine Health Foundation-supported programs since 2001