Interim CEO Jonathan Billings recently met with Bridget and Valdemar Garibay in thanks for the generous completion of their $100,000 pledge to NMC’s Capital Campaign from 2015.

“Community support like this is so incredibly important to NMC,” he said. “Their pledge made the expansion of our Gift Gallery possible, and the shop has been a source of joy since it opened, and especially for staff during the pandemic.”

The Garibays made their pledge in 2016 as NMC was constructing a new Medical Office Building, a new specialty clinics building, renovating the inpatient unit to all private rooms, and revamping the main entrance including the Gift Shop. The fund-raising campaign for that Master Facility Project was important to the success of the project.

“Supporting the community is important to our family, and we know that the Gift Shop is an important resource for patients and their families,” said Valdemar. “We are happy to see the gift shop thrive, especially since those funds go back to NMC through the Auxiliary organization.”

NMC’s Auxiliary operates the shop and puts on other events to raise funds for NMC.

Sales in the gift shop are slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels, still impacted by the reduced number of the public who come into the hospital. The shop closed from March 2020 to October 2020 when the hospital temporarily suspended the Volunteer program. It first re-opened to staff only, and eventually opened to visitors.