SEMINOLE, Fla. — Starting your own animal rescue can be expensive, but one nonprofit out of Seminole has come up with an interesting plan. They are selling old items to help fund new starts for animals in need.
Fluff Animal Rescue began out of Kimmy Chandler’s own home back in 2016.
“There would be times when there would be 16, 17 animals in my home at one time, and my husband thought I had lost my mind,” said Chandler.
Expenses like food and medical care were adding up, so Chandler got an idea to have a garage sale and ask the community to donate the merchandise.
“And my home filled with donations very quickly, my entire home, we had $4,000 in the bank for Fluff Animal Rescue,” said Chandler.
So Chandler thought, why not open up an actual second-hand store.
“That made perfectly good sense to me that people wanted to get rid of things, but they wanted it to go to a good cause,” said Chandler. “And we are now in an 8,000 plus square foot building that we found during Covid.”
Not only would the profits go back to funding Fluff, but the rescue would be in the same building.
“They can walk over and see the puppy that had Parvo, that they know that the money they spent on that item and every time they look at that item they know that it went to something beneficial,” said Chandler.
Loyal customers will find themselves searching the attic for extra things to donate or a reason to buy an old nick knack so that they can help contribute.
“They’ll even come and pick up; they have a good size truck that they’ll come and pick up at your house,” said Lois Landis.
Landis remembers the day she was supposed to be browsing for clothes but instead ended up walking out with two cats.
“One is 11, and one is 13, and we brought them home to us, and they are the best cats,” said Landis.
Close to 100 volunteers, from the sales floor to the doggy door, are working together. Chandler said they all have the same mission: finding their fury friends a new home.
“Once they come and they see they want to be a part of it,” said Chandler.
For more information, go to www.fluffanimalrescue.org.
