Thrift store for animal lovers sees growth in effort to support shelter dogs

BURGAW, N.C. (WECT) - Four years after it first opened and several renovations later, the Monty’s Home thrift store in Burgaw continues to help shelter dogs find loving homes.

The thrift store, operated by founder Barb Raab and several volunteers, features all animal items that were donated by the community, from stuffed animals and figurines to supplies for your pet.

“We ran into this building and I thought, how cool would it be to have a thrift shop with everything animal related for animal lovers?” Raab said. “It just took off.”

The building was previously used as a print shop, but after ripping up the carpet, opening up walls and planning for more upgrades in the future, the thrift store helps financially support Monty’s Home and its dog rescue program.

Through the program, the organization takes five shelter dogs and places them in prisons to be trained by inmates. Seven weeks later, they are adopted into permanent homes -- a program that has a 100% adoption rate.

“It’s a great, great program,” volunteer Dave Ritter said. “We started (volunteering) about eight years ago and haven’t even looked back. We’re just going forward, taking dogs out left and right and putting them into a good system.”

For Raab, its an effort at combatting high euthanasia rates and getting dogs out of shelters and into their forever homes quickly. She said she hopes the community will continue to support the thrift store and other local rescues.

“If you go to the shelter, it will break your heart. There’s a lot of dogs in there that spend way too many days in kennels, look outside, hoping,” she said. “There’s a lot of great dogs in the shelter. We’ve had hundreds through our system and there’s really a lot of good dogs over there.”