Resale to the Rescue donates most of their profits to local animal organizations

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- A local resale store saw the need for animal rescues here in Michiana and made it their personal mission to help by creating an upscale thrift shop called Resale to the Rescue to raise awareness and funds.

Resale to the Rescue in Mishawaka is a local non-profit resale store that began selling donated items about 5 years ago.

If you're looking for used home decor items, you’ll probably find most of it here. You can find anything from frames to sofas, dining sets, furniture and more.

But, Resale to the Rescue not only uses profits to pay their own bills, the manager of the non-profit says about 90-100% of their revenue goes towards five local animal organizations.

You can see the effects of their work at; Heartland Small Animal Rescue, Pet Refuge, Meow Mission, Frantz Fund and South Bend C.A.R.E.

By financially assisting local animal groups, they are helping to increase the number of animals that are spayed or neutered, increase the number of adoptions and decrease the number of euthanized cases.

As of right now, in total since they opened, the resale shop has raised $425,000 in donations and the goal is to reach half a million by the end of the year.

Ann Rudasics who is the store manager and an animal rescuer herself says her own adoption experience fuels her passion to save more animals and to keep their doors open.

“Rescuing a very special dog, his pictures at the other location, he’s passed but he was so close to being euthanized and he was such an amazing dog and we came a therapy dog or service dog. And when you realize that dogs like that are in shelters, a lot of them lose her lives I just made it my mission to try to help somehow someway,” Rudasics said.

They also opened up a second location just down the street from the original store this past February.

Rudasics says the second location has been there for quite some time but they thought it was time to finally open it, creating additional spaces to clean and quarantine items.

The business is doing the most to protect others by designating a special room in the back to disinfect the items they receive.

And, they not only opened up a second location for the additional square footage but it allowed for a different pop up store to share their space at 805 W. McKinley Avenue.

‘Chips and Doodles’ which is a bakery who created a pop-up station inside the resale store.

It was started by a mom and daughter duo who also have a passion for animal rescues.

Cassie Derr who is one of the owners of ‘Chips and Doodles’ says she is able to deepen her passion for animal adoptions by sharing the space with Resale to the Rescue.

“What we get is given,” says Derr.

Derr says being in the same space as these animal advocates is the perfect place to stay permanently combining passion with business, the perfect combo for Derr.

“This seemed like the perfect way to kind of mesh those things together that we love so much. My mom loves baking and we love the business we have created and we love animals so it puts everything that we love together,” Derr said.

The Resale to the Rescue’s two storefronts are not only helping our 4-legged friends but some 2-legged ones as well creating a space to donate, shop and pick up a tasty treat all while making a difference.