Community donates to SPCA after crash at Aiken thrift store
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The SPCA Albrecht Center’s thrift store in Aiken continues to recover after a drunk driver smashed the front of their store.
The damage forced the store to close on Friday.
They were able to make repairs and open back up on Saturday to get ready for a fundraiser that was planned for Monday night.
They hosted 200-300 people and raised around $10,000 at their “Canine Corral” event, which happens twice a year.
“It’d be super helpful right now with all the repairs and all the animals that we have coming in right now. It’s kitten season. So just last week, we got like 60 cats in so every little bit is gonna help,” said Executive Director Sybil Altman.
This spring’s event got more attention than usual with the timing of what happened to the store.
“One thing I love about this community is they all show up in a time of need,” said the retail manager for the SPCA Thrift store, Thom Tate.
The store is patched up now, but Tate won’t forget what he saw when he got to work on Friday.
“I come around the corner off of Whiskey Road into here and my heart just fell into my chest,” said Tate.
He always knew the store would be open Monday night.
“This is amazing. The people of our community show up and us and we’ve had more from outside and stuff like that. This is one of the larger spring events we’ve had for a long time,” said Tate.
The SPCA says seeing the line for the event wrapped around the parking lot brings joy coming off a rough weekend.
“Seeing all these people brings joy to my heart after so much sadness that has happened on Friday and stuff like that. To see how my staff volunteers, the board of directors and staff from the shelter come together along with the public. It’s amazing,” said Tate.
Altman said: “It’s super exciting to get pulled into the parking lot and see that the line is for us and not one of the restaurants.”
The SPCA will be open for regular business hours on Tuesday as they continue to move past what happened.
The store is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 p.m. until 6 p.m.
“Nothing other than the man upstairs is going to slow us down. Because one thing about our staff like I say again, donors and customers we’ll march forward no matter what we need to do, no matter what it takes. We always seem to get through the hard times,” said Tate.
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