March Gladness For Children's Hospital Thrift Shop 2.0

Since the 1940s, the volunteer-run Children’s Hospital Thrift Shop has donated millions of dollars to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which has provided both in-patient and out-patient care for thousands of Burbank children. In spite of various COVID obstacles, the thrift shop had a banner 2022, donating over £200,000 to the CHLA for their cutting edge special projects.  (Also in 2022, myBurbank.com’s viewers gave the thrift shop the “My Burbank’s BEST 2022” Award.) But the La Providencia Guild of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles knew that the times ahead would continue to be challenging for shoppers and volunteers alike.  So this past March, the Guild’s volunteers rolled up their sleeves and completely renovated their thrift shop.

Welcome to Children’s Hospital Thrift Shop 2.0.

(Photo by Austin Gebhardt)

On Thursday, March 30, the Chamber of Commerce hosted the ribbon-cutting event for the grand re-opening of the thrift shop.  Customers got down to the serious business of bargain hunting as Guild members mingled with assorted local dignitaries, including Burbank Chamber CEO Jaime Keyser-Thomas. “Notice that the signs now say ‘Children’s Hospital’ –part of our official title–rather than ‘La Providencia’ for better name recognition,” remarked Glenda Jones, the first African-American woman to be Thrift Shop Chair in the Guild’s 76-year history.  In the back room, one also notices the greatly increased hangar space, which makes sorting clothes much more efficient. Other things have remained the same.

Only the highest-quality donated goods (“gently used and new one-of-a-kind treasures”) make it to the shelves and the clothes racks.  The boutique ambiance remains, as does the friendliness of the Guild’s volunteers. To make the renovation a reality, Jones worked closely with thrift shop committee members Veronica Chavoor, DeeDee Rowlands, Donna Sagona-Salant, Rebecca Granite Johnson, Desi Galvez, and Nancy Wiggins, President of the Guild. Martin Vallejo found the volunteer hours to design the shop’s new look and upgrade its curb appeal when he wasn’t being the Interior Designer for Studio Radford and the Art Director for the Jennifer Hudson Show at Warner Bros.

The Children’s Hospital Thrift Store is located at 3301 W.

For more information, please go to www.laprov.org or contact Teresa Garcia, Public Relations Officer for La Providencia Guild of Children’s Hospital, at [email protected], 818-219-2060.

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