(June 1, 2021) Nantucket Cottage Hospital is pleased to award 15 Beinecke Scholarships totaling $41,500 to island students and residents pursuing education and training in medical and healthcare fields.

Open to graduates of Nantucket High School, residents of the island, and employees of Nantucket Cottage Hospital, this scholarship fund was created by the late Nantucket businessman and civic leader Walter Beinecke, Jr. in the 1950s. Over the years, Nantucket Cottage Hospital has used the scholarship fund to assist hundreds of island students further their education.

The eligibility of applicants and scholarship recipients are considered by an independent ad hoc committee consisting of NCH and community leaders.

Beinecke, the man who founded Sherburne Associates and is credited with transforming Nantucket into a modern destination resort, was a life member of Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s Board of Trustees. The Beinecke Scholarship Fund’s origins date back to the early 1950s when his father, Walter Beinecke, Sr., made annual gifts through the hospital to Nantucket High School graduates to help them pay for nursing school. After his father’s death in 1958, Walter Beinecke, Jr. formally established the scholarship fund in his memory.

The 2021 Beinecke Scholarship recipients are:

• Betsey Brooks
• Brooke Campbell
• Kate Daniels
• Sabin Dhamala
• Jessica Douglas
• Tajaun Francis
• Claudia Hofford
• Saadia Lewis
• Eve Manghis
• Caitlin Mattheson
• Sarah Trottier
• Renee Printz
• Tatiana Quiada-Lemus
• Linda Strachan
• Joelle Viera

(May 3, 2021) The Hospital Thrift Shop will open its doors on Monday, May 10th, 2021 for its 92nd season in business supporting Nantucket Cottage Hospital. The beloved island institution will allow in-person bargain hunting for the first time since 2019. Due to the pandemic, the Shop was unable to open for inside shopping in 2020 and instead created a new e-commerce shopping website and hosted several outdoor sales.

“We’re so excited to welcome shoppers back into 17 India Street,” said Mary Casey, Executive Director of the Hospital Thrift Shop. “We are chock full of merchandise – clothes, books, housewares, you name it! We are bursting at the seams and we can’t wait to get back to ‘business as normal.’”

For up-to-date shopping and donation hours, please visit hospitalthriftshop.org

The Thrift Shop was founded in 1929 when a group of dedicated volunteers came together to provide affordable clothes and household goods to the island community. Its first gift to the hospital that year was $603. Since that first donation, the Thrift Shop has contributed more than $5 million to the hospital during its 91 years of operation, a legacy of generosity that has benefited NCH in many ways, from new radiology and lab equipment, to a remodeled dialysis unit and new furnishings for patient rooms.

The Hospital Thrift Shop is always in need of new volunteers. Anyone interested in helping carry on this wonderful island tradition should e-mail hospitalthriftshop@gmail.com

Bruce A. Percelay has been presented with the 2020 Jack Connors, Jr. Award for Excellence in Philanthropy. The award, named in honor of Mass General Brigham Chair Emeritus Jack Connors, is given each year to two honorees for their contributions to Mass General Brigham hospitals.

Percelay received his award representing the community and specialty hospitals in recognition of his support, advocacy and philanthropic leadership throughout the $120 million capital campaign to build the new Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH). The hospital’s main building is now known as the Percelay Pavilion in honor of his efforts.

In presenting the award, Scott M. Sperling, the Chairman of Mass General Brigham, praised Percelay’s “singular relentless efforts” in leading Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s historic capital campaign for a new hospital and hospital housing.

Gary A. Shaw, the President and CEO of Nantucket Cottage added, “this award is truly deserved, and we at NCH are gratified that our colleagues at Mass General Brigham recognized the extraordinary efforts and sterling leadership that Bruce contributes to the hospital.”

Percelay is chairman and founder of The Mount Vernon Company, a real estate investment and development firm based in Massachusetts. The thirty-year-old firm owns and manages over 2,000 apartments, five hotels and a range of commercial properties in Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Percelay is the chairman of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, has served as chair of Habitat for Humanity and The Make-A-Wish Foundation and has served on the board of The Rappaport Institute at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He has been recognized in the United States Congressional Record for his contributions to life in Massachusetts.

In addition to his support for NCH, Percelay has been actively involved in Nantucket in a number of ways, including the building of the Nantucket Whaling Museum, co-founding member of the Great Harbor Yacht Club and the publisher of Nantucket Magazine, the leading publication on the island.

Saturday, August 8th at 7:00 p.m.

We’ve been working hard to create a free, celebratory broadcast of the Boston Pops for Nantucket to celebrate Nantucket Cottage Hospital and the heroes among us within our island community. We hope you’ve marked your calendars for this special program.

Ways to Watch:

• Watch for free on local Nantucket Community Television Comcast Channel 18
• Stream for free on NCTV18’s Website
• Listen for free on 97.7 ACK-FM