With Earth Day just around the corner, here's an idea on how to make your shopping more earth-friendly: buy used! In addition to being able to find unique, "like-new" items at great prices, buying from a thrift store instead of buying new means that an item is repurposed instead of being thrown out, thus lowering environmental impact. Richmond Animal League's thrift store, 'reuse,' has all sorts of gently used household items such as furniture, decor, books, and more. They also frequently get in pet-related products, and oftentimes have new RAL merchandise for sale as well. The store is non-profit, with all proceeds going to RAL to help fund the organization's mission of "Saving lives--providing hope, help and homes for animals in need."

Now that spring is here, reuse plans to resurrect its "Furry Fridays" program, bringing a shelter dog to visit with customers at the store every Friday.

Richmond Animal League (RAL) has been taking care of the area’s abandoned and neglected pets for over 30 years, but RAL’s longevity wouldn’t be possible without the support of the community – especially the business community. One of the local businesses that makes it possible for RAL to continue to provide hope, help, and homes for needy animals is online retailer Best Bully Sticks.

Three Dog Bakery reached out to the community and raised enough money to donate 600 pounds of dog food to Richmond Animal League.

The store, located in Stony Point Fashion Park, competed with other Three Dog Bakery locations in a Facebook ‘Like’ contest during the month of May.  The bakery location that received the most likes during May would get 1,000 pounds of food donated to a charity of its choice. 

While competing in the Facebook event, Myra Holden, Richmond’s Three Dog Bakery owner, decided to raise more food for the shelter by allowing customers to purchase food at $2 per pound, with no limit to how much a person could purchase.