Retail store making a difference for four-legged friends

CHARLESTON - Open since December, the Animal Helpers Retail Resale Store at 1601 Savannah Hwy. has already sent thousands of dollars to James Island based Pet Helpers and North Charleston based Charleston Animal Society.

"Just last month we were able to send $10,000 to the shelters," store owner Jon Skelton said. "It was our third check."

The store takes donations of furniture, appliances, electronics, books and other household items and splits the profits between the two shelter groups 50/50.

"People are eager to contribute to something that they know helps animals directly," said Kay Hyman, the Director of Marketing nad Public Relations for the Charleston Animal Society.

"There are a lot of places that help people," Skelton said. "There's nothing else like it in this area."

The store increased hours to six days a week last month and now is only closed on Sundays, Skelton said. A crew of 15-20 volunteers help Skelton keep it running.

Donations can be dropped at the store and because of a donated trailer and SUV, Skelton said he can arrange to pick up larger items from people as well. All donation to the Animal Helpers store are tax deductible.

On Saturday the store hosted the first animal adoption event since it's grand opening last year. Several puppies and kittens and a few adult dogs all available for adoption through Pet Helpers or the Charleston Animal Society welcomed customers as they entered the store.

"In this economy we're seeing many, many animals being given up by their guardians because they can't care for them anymore," Hyman said.

"LuLu and Max, these two black labs are brother and sister and their owners couldn't care for them anymore," she said about two of the adult dogs at the event. "They are just two of the thousands of stories we have every year."

The Charleston Animal Society took in 11,800 animals last year. It is an open shelter and takes in everything from cats and dogs to horses and cows, Hyman said. Pet Helpers is a limiated access shelter, she said, meaning it has certain requirements for the animals it can accept and keep until a permanent home is found, takes in about 1,200 pets each year.

Skelton is fostering one of those animals, Gracie, a golden retriever mix. Because she is such a calm and relaxed dog, Skelton has made her the store's unofficial mascot, and she comes to work with him at the store. Gracie was given up by her owner recently because the owner could no longer take care of her and another dog that was also taken in by the Charleston Animal Society.

"She's indicative of the dogs out there that need homes," Skelton said.

Skelton said he chose the West Ashley location for the store because it was a relatively centralized location for the Charleston area in a high traffic spot.

Skelton added it is unusual for the shelters to be working together with the store, but so far the relationship has been a good one. That board members of each organization help out in the store has fostered that success, he said.

Skelton is the only full time employee at the store, one other person was on staff part time during the summer, and everyone else is a volunteer.

"One bond they all have in common is that they are all crazy about animals," Skelton said.

He added that he plans to make animal adoption events a fairly regular occurrence at the store.

"It's an incentive for the people who come into the store regularly, and it lets people who go to the shelters learn about us," Skelton said.