For 17 years, Happy Hearts Animal Rescue in Jonesburg has been a vital business for animals in Montgomery County as it eliminates pet homelessness, overpopulation and cruelty.

Now, the animal shelter has found a way to benefit animals and help fund spay and neuter events by opening a thrift shop in Montgomery City..

Rummage 4 Rescue at 219 N. Sturgeon was open for business on Dec. 22. It was also open on Christmas Eve. 

“It was a last minute, ‘Hey, we’re here,’ kind of thing,” Happy Hearts executive director Ellen Sellers said. “Everybody was busy for Christmas. We understood that. Everybody had a lot going on.”

The shop sells all kinds of items such as clothes, school supplies, kitchenware, shoes, toys and books. Most of the items are donated.

“We have an 11,000 square foot barn and it looks like a mess right now because people donate stuff and we get stuff,” Sellers said.

Sellers said the store will be open on Wednesdays at either 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. and will close on 7 p.m. It will be open from noon-4 p.m. on Saturdays.

“We have a lot of animals to take care of, so we got a time feeding schedule with them,” Sellers said. “So 3-4 is our feeding time, so either it has to be before then or after it.”

Sellers started Happy Hearts – which is located in a 22-acre farm on Highway FF in Jonesburg – in 2009. It’s a non-profit organization.

“I don’t charge them any rent and utilities,” Sellers said. “The rescue doesn’t pay anything to be there. We pay that. So since they don’t have any expenses and we don’t have any salaries, the rescue is a total donation volunteer.” 

Sellers has been bringing animals home since she was 5. She worked at her parents’ jewelry store and as an information technology manager for Unigroup before opening the animal shelter.

Sellers said her shelter’s mission is to get animals spayed or neutered so the pet population can be decreased.

“Instead of finding them a place to go, let’s just cut down on how many there are,” said Sellers, who also owns Angel Wings Pet Cremation in Jonesburg. “It kind of goes with the territory. People here don’t have $350 to get their pet fixed. They want their pet fixed, but they don’t have the money that it costs at the vet, so they don’t get it fixed. Of course, we end up with puppies or kittens and they give them away and those people can’t afford to have them fixed.”

Sellers was living in the St. Louis area before moving to Montgomery County in 2013.

“We were getting too many dogs to be in a subdivision,” Sellers said. “My neighbor started complaining, so we were like, ‘OK, time to go.’ So we moved out here.” 

Sellers was contacted by Carolyn and Walter Gerding about an empty building she can use to run her thrift shop.

“We all used to go to Reach (Community Church),” Sellers said. “I knew them. I knew she had a storefront here and I didn’t think she was using it, so I just called and asked, ‘Do you still have that storefront?’ They’re using the back, so they are using it. But they cleaned out (the empty space) and rented this to us.”