The Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) Volunteers Program (formerly known as the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital Auxiliary) has provided vital resources to the organization since 1933. As DHMC has grown, DHMC Volunteers has worked in partnership with employees to fulfill the DHMC Volunteers' mission: to supplement the services of DHMC, to assist patients, families, visitors, and staff in an empathetic and supportive manner.
Volunteers assist in numerous departments and provide thousands of hours of work throughout the hospital each year. DHMC Volunteers also awards funds to support DHMC programs, and for equipment and supplies, from the proceeds of The Gift Shop at DHMC.
The DHMC Volunteers was established in 1933 at the request of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees. The Board felt that an organized group of volunteers could help support the Hospital through fundraising and other support services. That fall, during the Hospital's annual Donation Day, contributors of cash, produce, or supplies automatically became members of the DHMC Volunteers.
Donation Days continued until 1955, when they were replaced by the Hanover-Norwich Auxiliary Drive. During this time, the DHMC Volunteers hosted many concerts, plays, and dances to fundraise for the Hospital. Today, The Gift Shop at DHMC, which opened in 1971, is the sole fundraising activity of DHMC Volunteers and provides numerous benefits, both financial and intangible, to DHMC.
In 2008, The DHMC Auxiliary celebrated 75 years of service with the publication of A Gift of Service: A seventy-five year history of the DHMC Auxiliary (PDF - 2 Mb).