STEP 01
You clear out a closet
Clothes, kitchenware, furniture, books, tools, toys. The things you are finished with are the things somebody two streets over is still looking for.
Mississippi County · A 501(c)(3) since 2015
A secondhand lamp buys a full food bowl.
Orphan Annie’s is an all-volunteer thrift store on North Broadway. Every mug, every winter coat, every slightly wobbly end table we sell turns into food, litter and vet bills for the animals of the Blytheville Humane Society.
How a donation becomes dog food
Three steps, no payroll in between.
Most charities start by asking you for money. We start by asking for what is already in your closet — and then we do the rest of the work ourselves.
STEP 02
Volunteers put it on the shelf
We sort it, clean it, price it low, and sell it. Nobody here draws a salary, so nothing gets skimmed off between your donation and the animals.
STEP 03
The shelter keeps its doors open
Proceeds go to the Blytheville Humane Society: food, litter, vaccinations, spay and neuter, and the electric bill that keeps the kennels warm.
Come by
510 North Broadway, in the old MCEC building.
We moved into the bigger building in June 2023 — which means more room for furniture, and more room for whatever you bring us.
Orphan Annie’s
Thrift Store
- Store hours
- Mon – Sat, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Closed Sunday - Address
- 510 N Broadway
Blytheville, AR 72315 - Phone
- (870) 623-9964
- Donation drop-off
- Tue · Wed · Fri · Sat
before 2:00 PM - Where to leave it
- The orange tables in back
- Large items, after hours
- Call first — we will work it out
To the shelter100%
A small store doing an unglamorous job
There is no marketing budget here and no glossy campaign. There is a room full of donated things, a rotating crew of volunteers pricing them, and a shelter down the road that needs the register to ring.
If you have never been in, come look around. People find winter coats for a few dollars, a full set of dishes for a few more, and every so often a piece of furniture worth hauling home. All of it is why the kennels stay stocked.
Shopping and donating have different windows. The store is open Monday through Saturday, 8 to 5. Donations come in on a shorter schedule — Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday before 2 PM — so there are volunteers free to take them in.
Before you load the truck
What we can sell, and what we can’t.
Rule of thumb: if you would hand it to a neighbor without apologizing for it, we can probably sell it. Where we have to say no, the reason is written above the list — so you can judge the odd item we have not thought of.
Yes, please
From the closet
- Clean clothing, coats and shoes
- Purses, belts, scarves, hats
- Jewelry, costume jewelry, watches
From the kitchen
- Dishes, glassware, mugs, flatware
- Pots, pans, bakeware, small utensils
- Small appliances that still work
From around the house
- Furniture that is solid and sits level
- Lamps, framed art, mirrors, vases
- Clean linens, blankets, towels, curtains
From the shelf and the toy box
- Books, records, DVDs
- Puzzles and board games with all the pieces
- Clean toys, craft and sewing supplies
From the garage and the yard
- Hand tools and yard equipment
- Sporting goods and camping gear
- Holiday and seasonal decorations
For the animals
- Crates, carriers, leashes, collars, bowls
- Pet beds and unopened pet food
Sorry, we can’t
The law does not allow it
- Anything under a safety recall
- Crib bumpers and inclined infant sleepers
- Drop-side cribs
- Mattresses, box springs, toppers, bed pillows
- Sleeper sofas, hide-a-beds, water beds
Too risky to put a price on
- Car seats, cribs and bassinets, baby walkers
- Bike and sports helmets
- Crutches and prescription medical equipment
- Opened food, medicine, cosmetics
Too big, or plain dangerous
- Refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, freezers
- Water heaters, furnaces, air conditioners
- Ceiling fans, chandeliers, wired-in fixtures
- Paint, chemicals, gasoline, motor oil
- Propane and helium tanks, car batteries, tires
- Firearms, ammunition, fireworks
Nobody will buy it
- Tube televisions, tower computers
- Printers, fax machines, scanners
- Encyclopedias, condensed-book sets, textbooks
- Window blinds, used toilets and plumbing
- Anything torn, stained, mildewed or missing parts
- Furniture with swollen or sagging particle board
- Used underwear and socks
Worn-out towels and blankets: bring those too
Bath towels, sheets and blankets too rough for the sales floor are exactly what the kennels go through fastest. Tell the volunteer at the door they are for the shelter and they will go straight there instead of onto a rack.
Not sure about something? Call (870) 623-9964 first. We would far rather answer a question than have you haul the same load twice. Call ahead for a full carload as well — two volunteers and a back room can only take in so much at once, and the volunteer on the door has the last word on any item.
Four things that actually help
Pick whichever one is easiest for you.
Give things
Donate goods
The single most useful thing you can do. Bring it to the orange tables in back on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday before 2 PM.
See what we takeSpend a little
Shop the store
Buying a five-dollar jacket here does more for a shelter dog than five dollars usually does anywhere else.
Find the storeGive time
Volunteer a shift
Sorting, pricing, hanging clothes, running the register, moving furniture. A few hours a week keeps the whole thing running. Call and ask for Pam.
Call to sign upGive directly
Make a cash gift
Cash covers what donated goods never do: a roof repair, a truck rental, a vet bill that will not wait. Hand it in at the register, or post a check payable to Orphan Annies Inc.
Where to send itWho we are
A small charity, on the public record.
Orphan Annie’s exists for one purpose: to raise money for the Blytheville Humane Society by running a thrift store. Here is what the IRS has on us, which is most of what there is to know.
Our charitable purpose
Orphan Annies Inc is a nonprofit corporation in Blytheville, Arkansas. The Internal Revenue Service recognizes it as a 501(c)(3) public charity, exempt from federal income tax effective November 2, 2015 — EIN 81-0881057, determination letter issued 3 June 2016. It operates one program: Orphan Annie’s Thrift Store at 510 N Broadway.
The IRS classifies it more precisely as a Type II supporting organization under IRC Section 509(a)(3) — a charity supervised or controlled in connection with the public charity it exists to support. That charity is the Blytheville Humane Society, and supporting it is the whole of what Orphan Annie’s does.
There is no paid staff and no paid fundraiser. After the cost of keeping the building open, the store’s proceeds go to the care, sheltering and rehoming of animals in Mississippi County, Arkansas.
- Legal name
- Orphan Annies IncBlytheville, Arkansas
- EIN
- 81-0881057Gifts are tax-deductible
- Status
- 501(c)(3) public charityExempt effective 2 November 2015
- Classification
- 509(a)(3), Type IIA supporting organization — we exist to fund the Blytheville Humane Society
- Annual filing
- Form 990-NFiscal year ends 31 August. Under $50,000 in gross receipts — a genuinely small operation
- Look us up
- Nonprofit Explorer →ProPublica’s copy of the public IRS record
Questions we get at the register
Frequently asked.
Can I adopt a pet at the thrift store?
No — the store and the shelter are two different places. We raise the money; the Blytheville Humane Society and Blytheville Animal Services handle adoptions and reclaims. Ask us and we will point you in the right direction.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. Orphan Annies Inc has been a 501(c)(3) public charity since 2 November 2015, EIN 81-0881057, and the IRS letter confirms contributions are deductible. Ask for a receipt when you drop off — you set the valuation, we confirm the donation.
Why won’t you take my mattress? It is barely used.
Arkansas treats used bedding as a regulated product: to resell a mattress the seller needs a state permit and has to sanitize it and tag it as sanitized. We are a volunteer crew with a sales floor, not a licensed renovator, so bedding is one of the few things we have to turn away no matter how good it looks.
Do you pick up large furniture?
Sometimes, depending on volunteers and the truck. Call (870) 623-9964 and we will tell you honestly whether we can get to it.
What are your store hours?
Monday through Saturday, 8 AM to 5 PM. Closed Sunday. Note that donation drop-off is a narrower window than shopping — Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, before 2 PM.
Where does the money actually go?
To the Blytheville Humane Society. Because we have no paid staff, the store’s only real expenses are the building and the utilities. Everything past that goes to animal care.
Reach a person
Contact Orphan Annie’s.
We are a volunteer organization, so the phone during store hours is by far the fastest way to reach us. Email is read, but it can take a few days.
Phone — fastest
(870) 623-9964Monday to Saturday, 8 AM to 5 PM. Donations, volunteering, large pickups, anything at all.
Questions, donation receipts, volunteering, press and partnership enquiries all come here.
Ask for
Pam FordPam handles donations, volunteer shifts and anything that needs a decision. Ask for her by name at the store or on the phone.
926 E Promised Land Road
Blytheville, AR 72315
Our mailing address, and where checks payable to Orphan Annies Inc should go. The store itself is at 510 N Broadway.
Privacy and your information
This website has no forms, no accounts, no sign-ups, and no advertising or analytics trackers. It does not set cookies and it does not build a profile of you.
The one exception worth naming: the typefaces on this page are served by Google Fonts, so loading the page sends your IP address and browser details to Google. Nothing else here contacts a third party.
If you phone or email us, we keep what you send only so that we can answer you. We do not sell, rent or share it. If you ask for a donation receipt we keep a record of that donation for as long as tax rules require, and no longer.
Questions about any of this go to info@orphananniesinc.info or (870) 623-9964.
There is a box in your garage that a dog is waiting on.
Bring it Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday, before two o’clock, to the orange tables at the back of 510 North Broadway.