If you love cats, love a good bargain or both, the Homeless Animal Rescue Team’s (HART) annual yard sale next month is the place for you. This event takes place at Cumberland Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall from Aug. 7 to 10, with a Sip and Shop preview on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
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| The Homeless Animal Rescue Team (HART) annual yard sale fundraiser takes place from Aug. 7 to Aug. 10 with a special preview event on Aug. 6 at Exhibition Hall at Cumberland Fairgrounds. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Event organizers are hoping lots of shoppers will attend the yard sale and are also counting on people to donate items before the event. Everything from kitchen small appliances, clothing, jewelry, and more are being accepted at the HART office through Saturday, July 26. After that, items including things like large furniture can be dropped off at the fairgrounds.
HART, which started in 1997, deals exclusively with cats and focuses on “giving them the best care that they can get until we find their forever home,” said HART board Vice President Sarah Michniewicz.
The shelter takes in surrendered, abandoned, injured and abused cats.
“We never turn away cats due to medical needs,” according to the HART website. “Every cat receives vaccinations, a microchip, spay or neuter surgery, testing, and, when necessary, extensive medical treatments - sometimes costing thousands of dollars.”
Michniewicz said that in 2024, more than 489 felines were taken in and about 36 cats are adopted out each month. As a no-kill shelter, cats that are not are adopted remain with HART.
Cats are surrendered for a variety of reasons, Michniewicz said. Some owners “can’t necessarily keep up with the care or someone has passed away and their family needs to find a placement for the cat. Sometimes people just get in a rough spot, and they just can’t take care of the cat anymore.”
The shelter was custom-designed and built in 2004.
“We have open rooms where the cats roam free,” Michniewicz said. “We have an intake room where we will bring them in until they’re ready to go out in the general population,” she said. There’s also a storeroom, a veterinary care room and a front office.
HART has more than 100 volunteers she says who perform a variety of functions such as fostering cats, working in the office, fundraising and more.
Those interested in adopting a HART cat can fill out an application at the organization’s website hartofme.org. Then “people come in and meet the cats and we have adoption coordinators at the shelter who will try to match people with the cat and see if it’s a good fit for them,” Michniewicz said. “Just trying to make sure that it’s the best fit possible so that it’s a forever home.”
The upcoming yard sale is important in helping HART fulfill its mission of caring for cats, Michniewicz said.
It first started at the parking lot of the shelter on Range Road until it outgrew that site and moved to the Cumberland Fairgrounds. Over the years the event has grown “and we’ve ended up having more and more merchandise and more and more shoppers,” she said.
“We take all kinds of things in, kitchenware, dinnerware, antiques, collectibles, furniture, tools, books, craft items, clothes and shoes, purses, jewelry, and all kinds of things, and we just ask that they be clean and in sellable condition,” Michniewicz said.
Items to donate can be brought to the shelter facility at 302 Range Road in Cumberland through Sunday, July 27. Starting Monday, July 28, donations can be brought to the Cumberland Fairgrounds at 197 Blanchard Road in Cumberland in the Exhibition Building.
The HART yard sale takes place at the Exhibition Hall at the Cumberland Fairgrounds from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 7, Aug. 8 and Aug. 9 and from 8 a.m. to noon Aug. 10; the Sip and Shop preview is Aug. 6 from 4:30 to 7 p.m., tickets for that event are $28 online and $30 at the door.
To learn more, call 207-289-4116 or visit hartofme.org. <
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