Houston Healthcare celebrates the opening of the Pink Bowtique gift shop 

PERRY— The Houston Healthcare Perry campus celebrated the opening of the new Pink Bowtique gift shop with a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, Aug. 20. 

The gift shop will be run by volunteers and will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Supervisor of Volunteer Services Patty Callahan has been in her position for approximately two years.

Before the renovation and relocation, Callahan said the gift shop was towards the back of the hospital and was kind of difficult to find. 

“What we were thinking is that we need to move it to the front so that way it is more visible and not hard to get there,” Callahan said.

Back in 1979, the Pink Ladies, a volunteer group, started the gift shop and was once placed in the front of the hospital. Callahan said they have had renovations over the years where the hospital has needed that space, promptly moving the gift shop toward the back.  

“For the last year I have been trying to get it moved back to the front, and we finally got it completed and it’s so exciting,” she said. 

The Auxiliary funded the renovation and relocation of the Pink Bowtique gift shop. According to Callahan, the Auxiliary is made up of volunteers and operates like an organization. 

“They have a Board, members and everything is voted on,” she said. “What they do is that we have fundraisers throughout the year, and we use all the proceeds from the gift shop to go back into the community for scholarships and also back into the hospital.” 

Callahan emphasized that the Auxiliary provides their service from the heart.

“They don’t make a dime off of this because they want to serve,” she said. 

The gift shop will sell brands such as Swig, GANTZ, Simply Southern, DEMDACO, Mud Pie, Burton & Burton and Hanna Handiworks. 

The shop will also be selling Woodlands Coffee. The proceeds from the Woodlands Coffee sold at the gift shop will go back to Honduras. 

“The volunteers are not just helping locally, but they’re helping across the world as well,” she said.  

Callahan mentioned they have to keep in mind the gift shop is in a hospital. 

“We do have items like combs, brushes, toothbrushes, toiletry items, Advil and things like that,” she said. “We also sell t-shirts for our employees, candy, which is one of our big sellers, flowers, jewelry, candles, inspirational items such as journals and pretty much anything that you can think of.” 

Callahan cannot thank the people who donated enough to make the gift shop possible.

“I can’t thank them enough for their generosity and hard work,” she said. 

She also thanked the hospital’s Board members, the executive team and marketing for their work supporting this gift shop. 

“Everybody has put time and effort and prayer into this, and now we have finally seen it come to fruition which has been amazing,” she said. “Thank you might sound petty but it is really a heartfelt thank you. We could not have done this without the administration of this hospital, the engineering department and just the overall support.” 

Callahan said the gift shop strictly serves the community, employees, and patients. She also shared that making somebody’s day special is what this gift shop is all about. 

Callahan also wanted to thank Karen Simmons, the Executive Secretary of Administration for Houston Healthcare’s Perry campus. She has worked endlessly with her and also helps with the volunteers. 

“I couldn’t have done it without her,” she said.  

Most of the volunteers working the gift shops are elderly and Callahan said there is always a need for more volunteers. 

“We can always welcome volunteers as all they have to do is get in contact with me or the hospital,” she said. “The door is always open for more volunteers as we are always taking applications. We got it covered, but we could always use more volunteers.”