Anne Polischuk, manager of the Osoyoos United Church Thrift Shop, displays some of the clothing in stock. The Dorcas Ladies Group, which runs the shop, has donated $30,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation to help equip the new Patient Care Tower at Penticton Regional Hospital.

For more than half a century the Osoyoos Dorcas ladies have had a history of giving. Now, the Dorcas Unit of the Osoyoos United Church has increased its support to $30,000 for the South Okanagan Similkameen (SOS) Medical Foundation’s campaign to supply the medical equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital expansion.

The gift has enabled the organization to gain provincial approval to have their name associated with a patient room in the new PRH patient care tower now under construction.
Marie Therrien, president of the Dorcas Unit, says the organization has been operating a thrift shop for more than 50 years.

“It all started with a group of ladies doing garage sales and having little sales in the parking lot to support the church,” she said. “Then it developed into a weekly thrift shop – and now we’re open four days a week.”
The Thrift Shop, located in the church basement, is open Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.  It generates almost $50,000 a year in proceeds which the Dorcas donate to charity.
“It still surprises me how well we do with the Thrift Store because Osoyoos is not a large community,” Therrien said. “We have very limited space but we do very well with what we have.”