More Valuable Than Antiques

The Association of Volunteers of the Convalescent Hospital for Children is over fifty years old. They are known for their coordination of the annual Antiques Festival, but the group goes far beyond that with a history of volunteers to serve the needs of the Convalescent Hospital, known under the bailiwick of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

The Convalescent Hospital was incorporated in 1833 as the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum, founded by local women to provide medical care and schooling for indigent and homeless children as the city was in the throes of a cholera epidemic. During the many transition from orphan asylum to convalescent care facility, the Board of Lady Managers implemented programs responsive to the changing child care needs in Cincinnati.

In 1964, the Hospital needed more funds and support than an administrator and small medical staff could provide and created an auxiliary with a committee charged with assembling a group of people representing different talents and areas of the city to help publicize the Hospital’s services and achievements, to provide a coordinated volunteer fore and to raise funds. This group was officially named “Members of the Hospital Association for Volunteer Service” on April 8, 1964.

During the group’s early years, the volunteers did a little bit of everything, including making and mending clothing for the patients, decorating and renovating the wards of the Hospital, staffing recreation programs for the children and working on public relations in the community. To raise enough money to begin operations, the newly-formed Hospital Association, along with the Board of Lady Managers, decided to organize an elegant fashion show. Their efforts welcomed French-board, American fashion designer Pauline Trigere to Cincinnati in 1964 and 1965. In 1996, when Trigere was no longer available to participate, the group decided to focus on interior design and antiques.

In 1973, several child health care services, including Convalescent Hospital into Children’s Hospital Medical Center, changed the role of the Association of Volunteers. The demand for the volunteers’ sewing skills and actual hospital volunteer work was replaced by a demand for business and management skills. With this change, the Association of Volunteers accepted the challenge of significant fundraising–and continues to accept this challenge as it enters a new era of fundraising and interior design with Designing Cincinnati.