MORGANTOWN — Charlotte Johnston is a crafty animal-lover.
She puts both passions to use by creating one-of-a-kind shirts that are sold at a thrift shop benefiting the Mountaineer Spay Neuter Assistance Program (M-SNAP).
Since October 2009, that organization has handed out 9,936 vouchers to help residents get their pets spayed and neutered.
That mission prevents overpopulation, homelessness, abandoned pets and ultimately euthanasia when the shelters become too full.
Johnston, an M-SNAP volunteer, donated her time and money in creating colorful T-shirts for sale at the Retails Thrift Shop at Morgantown Mall.
Johnston has always loved creating things, and so she wanted to make shirts with cats and dogs and other animals the store now carries.
“Usually, it takes me, depending on the shirt, some of them are fairly simple so it only takes me maybe 40 minutes. But some of them are freehanded, and that takes longer,” she said.
Johnston’s shirts vary in design. Like snowflakes, no two are the same. She will take pictures from patterns on material, such as a dog or a cat and paint on and around the pictures. Right now, the store has some Halloween shirts and even a dress that Johnston made. She can take elements from multiple fabrics and create a picture, striving for each piece to be unique.
“I never make two alike, never. That way when someone wears this down the mall they’re like, ‘Oh, well no one else will have a shirt like mine,’ ” she said.
Once upon a time, Johnston had a shop at the Mountaineer Mall with her brother. Though she largely made apparel for gifts, she also hand-painted clothing and Halloween costumes.
“It’s just something I’ve always liked to do as a hobby,” she said.
Johnston has been selling her shirts for about a year, but now she is trying to do more. Around the end of October, she said she will bring in Christmas material and particularly enjoys doing free-handed snowmen. She really likes to work with patriotic material, as well.
Johnston also makes cat cozies and dish clothes for the store, and wishes she had more time to devote to her hobby. Johnston has a full schedule between work and volunteering, as well as caring for 26 feral cats, her own pets and a family.
“We try to have a variety of everything in this store so that people can come in and find something that they want,” she said.
Johnston said her shirts sold well over the summer. One lady comes down once a year from Pittsburgh and buys her shirts.
What the store faces now is lack of traffic at its end of the mall and a lack of volunteers. With the closure of Elder-Beerman — the thrift shop is across the way from that store front — and not many people going into Sears, they are not seeing as many people coming by.
High school or college students can and fulfill community service hours at the thrift shop.
Retired UHS teacher David McQuain volunteers his time at ReTails and hopes to see more students do the same.
“The other thing, too, is certainly there are teachers who feel very strongly about our pets and about the lives of those animals. So we would love for teachers if they had that opportunity to volunteer with a few hours in the store helping out,” he said.
McQuain said there is a number of students who give their time to the store, and though they don’t work directly with kittens and puppies, their contributions still help animals.
Students can also work membership tables and outreach tables, giving out information on membership. To request a spay or neuter voucher, call 304-985-0123. WVU students are also eligible for M-SNAP vouchers, as long as their landlords allow pets.
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