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player ready...The Encore Shop, the resale store whose proceeds benefit Silver Cross Hospital, will hold a grand reopening Tuesday at the Business Center on the hospital campus, 710 Cedar Crossings Drive, New Lenox.
The grand reopening is set for 10 a.m. All shoppers will be entered into a drawing for a $50 MasterCard gift card among other “surprises,” according to Donna Zorzola, publicity chairwoman of the Silver Cross Advisory Board, a volunteer group of about 55 women who operate the Encore Shop.
The shop, which had still been operating at Silver Cross’s former Joliet campus, was closed for about two weeks to complete its move to the New Lenox facility. It was the sixth move in the shop’s 54-year history.
The Encore Shop specializes in gently used items, such as household decorative items, kitchenware, clothing, books, jewelry and seasonal items. Zorzola said Encore cannot accept large items such as furniture and large appliances.
Items are rotated seasonally by volunteers who also accept donations, sort, price and shelve or store the donations, Zorzola said.
Encore has two major annual fundraisers, she said. An antiques and collectibles sale takes place in early February and a Christmas sale begins in early November.
Proceeds from all sales benefit Silver Cross Hospital, Zorzola said. The advisory board has donated nearly $1 million toward vehicles to transport patients from the parking lots, blanket warmers and the serenity fountain in the serenity garden, among other causes, she said.
The Encore Shop’s current pledge is to raise $25,000 for cardiac medical equipment, Zorzola said.
Donations can be made at the shop during regular hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the first Saturday of the month, Zorzola said. A white Encore donation bin is located in the south parking lot for off-hours donations, she said.
Zorzola said the advisory board hopes former customers in the Joliet area will make the three-mile trip from the former location and continue to patronize the resale shop. She said a Pace bus provides transportation to the Silver Cross Hospital campus.
“Our purpose is to serve the community,” Zorzola said. “Our purpose is to provide reasonably priced merchandise for the community.”
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter.
If you go …
What: Silver Cross Hospital Encore Shop grand reopening
When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 24
Where: Encore Shop, Business Center on the Silver Cross Hospital campus, 710 Cedar Crossings Drive, New Lenox
Information: (815) 300-7642 or (815) 300-7117