Corner Cafe and New To You open for business

BY KRISTENA SCHUTT-MOORE

Staff

The North Hastings District Hospital Auxiliary is proud to announce the New To You Store on main street of Bancroft and the Corner Cafe at 1 Manor Lane are reopening!
As of Feb. 1 New To You will be open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This store takes donations of gently used items and gives them a new life for others to love. The funds raised from the purchase of the clothes and accessories go towards purchasing items needed at the hospital.
Customers are asked to wear masks when in the store as all the volunteers managing the store are seniors, some are in their late 70s and they wish to protect themselves and their customers.
They are also excited to show off some of the renovations that they have completed to the building. The place has a new coat of paint and the dressing room has been completely redesigned. Complete with a new full sized mirror that was donated by Trish Brooks.
The funds raised at New To You go to the hospital, so they have a strict budget. However as the building is older they have had to do some needed upkeep and made quite a few improvements. Most of the heavy lifting was done by the volunteers who love their little shop. Now they are inviting
people to come in and see what has changed, and what has stayed the same.
The Corner Cafe has been part of the community for 23 years and the volunteers are excited to serve up their famous soup and sandwich lunches once again. They officially reopened on Jan. 31 and will be open from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

However like all other stores, they have had to increase some prices. They are happy to assure their customers that coffee and tea are still $1 with a free refill, a service the volunteers have provided for the past 10 years. However, other items have had to be increased by $0.25 or $0.50 depending
on the item.
The auxiliary also wants the public to know that vaccine clinics at the Manor's fireside room beside the Corner Cafe will continue, as the Cafe reopening does not affect the clinic. The Cafe Committee says, “The vaccine clinics will continue in the Fireside Room on Tuesdays and at other locations around town or towns, i.e. Cardiff. So clinics continue, just not using the Cafe. We would be happy to sell coffee and a muffin to prospective ‘arms'!”
Last year the auxiliary was able to raise a total of $60,000 with the help of the store and the cafe and campaigns throughout the community. They were able to purchase an ISTAT machine (for rapid blood analysis) a second ECG machine and a trauma Stretcher. They also put some funds aside to help the hospital purchase a much needed ultrasound machine in the future.

The auxiliary is looking for more volunteers for both locations. Those interested can find more information on their Facebook page.