About this time last year, we signed a one year lease on a retail storefront located on the Tweedy Mile in South Gate. With a goal of creating a safe space where all community members with pets feel understood and supported, this space became our new location for our Pet Support Space office and Clancy’s Closet, a thrift store for pets, named in honor of Clancy, one of the greatest dogs who ever lived. We accomplished a lot in 2023, and wanted to share some highlights with you!

We opened for business in February, with limited store hours, but we’ve expanded our hours to Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 10am to 2:30pm, and Saturday 1:00 to 4:00 because the South Los Angeles community supported us by shopping, and donating to give back to our community. And, of course, there are the volunteers!

There is no way we could receive donations, prepare them for the display, assist customers, decorate the store, and so much more without our dedicated volunteer participants.  These are the volunteers who have been DDR clients with their pets, who were looking for a way to return to work part time, wanted to go back to school, had a goal of getting and maintaining stable permanent housing.  Each participants volunteers a minimum of four hours per week, and in exchange, DDR gives them gift cards to buy groceries, pays monthly school tuition, furthering their personal goals. In addition, DDR staff continues to support each participant through their journey of signing up for online benefits, dealing with various agencies that distribute benefits.  We advocate for them, making sure that they are on the fast track to housing, or if in housing, stay in it, and create a safe place to call home. We enrolled a total of six people, and three have worked for six months or more.

On Saturdays, our outstanding high school students run Clancy’s Closet.  The store is often their first opportunity to learn job skills, such as customer service, making pet ID tags for $1 donation, pricing items, making change + counting the drawer at the end of the day. They stock our “little free library” with books for children.  The students bring so much positive energy as our next generation of animal welfare advocates.

During this past year, we met a lot of families, who needed help with finding low cost spay/neuter, especially for cats.  Some of our customers were reluctant to get their pets spayed or neutered, but with lots of great information that included having a conversation about the benefits for the pet, their family, and the community, changed some people’s opinions on getting their family pets spayed or neutered.  Whether the conversations were in English or Spanish, our staff and participants were there to pass out a resource sheet, take the time to listen, and share a personal perspectives. Each pet that was sterilized as a result of a customer coming into Clancy’s Closet is a positive community outcome!

At Clancy’s Closet, we distributed hundreds of pounds of cat food, and thousands of pounds of dog food, over the course of six months.  About 250 low income families count on DDR for their monthly pet food supply.  Coming to the store to pick up food, they can also “shop free” meaning they can take anything that they need on display in the store.  For some, they offer us a donation based on what they can afford.  It’s this donation model that ensures that anyone who visits Clancy’s Closet, goes home with whatever pet supplies they need, at a price they can afford. All of our pricing is a suggested donation.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Michelson Found Animals Foundation, we are able to pay our rent each month, purchase gift cards for participants, and pay a salary for a store manager/project coordinator.  You can help us too by donating your new or gently used pet item, by shopping at Clancy’s, following us on Instagram @clancys.closet.ddr, or donate to DDR so we can keep our doors open as a community resource.  Clancy’s Closet is located at 3925 Tweedy Blvd South Gate with lots of street parking, and parking behind the store.

We are OPEN to accept donations Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 10:00am to 2:30pm and Saturdays from 1:00-4:00pm We hope to see you soon!