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If you’ve ever been a patient or visitor at Winchester Hospital, you’ve probably run into a Winton Club volunteer. They staff the gift shop and give every newborn a book.
Meg Pickelhaupt helps the club raise money, which they use to run A Caring Place at 620 Washington St., among other things. And you can help them, too, in different ways.
“A Caring Place,” Pickelhaupt explains, “is a boutique where those suffering from cancer can buy wigs, mastectomy bras, prostheses, and other items. We also help financially support patients whose insurance won’t pay for them.
“The boutique allows women in particular to take control of the disease — they can choose a wig, a scarf, or a hat — whatever helps them deal with hair loss from cancer treatments,” she concluded.
The boutique has a consultant to help clients decide what suits them.
“Two years ago, Winton Club paid for a scalp cooling device called Paxman,” says Pickelhaupt. “It lets patients keep their hair by cooling the hair roots during chemotherapy treatments. All told, the club has raised half a million dollars for the 620 Washington St. facility.
Pickelhaupt is the chair of the club’s major fundraising event Casino Night, which will be held on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Woburn Country Club. She hopes to raise $50,000 that night. Attending the event is a good way to be a helper. Pickelhaupt also encourages folks to help the second way: by joining Winton Club.
The funds may support $20,000 for grants, $50,000 yearly for rental of the scalp cooling devices, and $8,000 for the Family Literacy Program for baby books, which the publisher gives them at cost. This year the funds are targeted across A Caring Place and the Special Care Nursery Campaign.
“Both my kids got the same book,” Pickelhaupt says, “‘The Little Engine That Could.’
“The books used to be provided by the Friends of Winchester Hospital — ‘the pink ladies’— but that group disbanded during COVID and we took it over,” she adds. “About 2,600 babies a year are born at the hospital.”
Pickelhaupt was born and raised in Winchester and when she moved back as an adult, she was looking for ways to reconnect.
“I liked the idea of a gift shop because I used to work at Bloomingdale’s and Filene’s,” she says. “I spent the first year as a buyer for the shop.”
Winton Club President Gabrielle Stott says, “The club has been around for over 100 years, supporting Winchester Hospital since before there was a hospital! The talented folks who produced the Winton Club are now running Casino Night ”
Stott says the club has two equal goals: 1. Do Good and 2. Have Fun.
“Casino Night is a good way to shake off the winter blues and help support our terrific community hospital,” she says.
