Rover Rescue holding last barn sale of the season this weekend

Since its start in 2003, the nonprofit Rover Rescue organization has saved thousands of dogs from high kill shelters.

Some of the dogs are in poor health.

“We just got three older dogs and one of them had huge tumors that we had removed,” Rover Rescue foster home coordinator Teri Grandt said. “Another one is going to have both of her eyes removed. And we just had another one who was only six months old that had to have surgery on her leg.”

Those who shop at Rover Rescue’s barn sale this weekend will help pay for the veterinarian bills for the dogs saved from high kill shelters and brought into its foster home network.

The group holds six barn sales a year. All the money goes toward veterinarian bills, including the cost of spaying, neutering and microchipping.

This is the third year of the barn sale at its current location at 5401 Route 71 in Oswego in a large red barn built in 1887. The sale – the last of the season – will go from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The sale operates on a system where you name your price.

“Whatever you feel it’s worth to you, that’s what you donate to Rover Rescue,” Grandt said.

The owner of the property has been involved with Rover Rescue for several years and has fostered dogs over the years. Rover Rescue is run by volunteers.

Between 30 and 40 families foster dogs for the organization. Rover Rescue has more than 500 dogs a year available for adoption.

“We are always looking for more foster homes,” Grandt said. “For me, getting more foster homes is like getting a chunk of gold.”

The sale has been at other locations throughout the years, including at Grandt’s house in North Aurora.

Grandt is one of the founding members of Rover Rescue.

“We used to do it at my house and then it got way too big,” she said.

The barn sale is Rover Rescue’s biggest fundraising effort of the year. This year, the group looks to make more than $50,000 from the barn sale, which would be a record amount for the group.

Rover Rescue holds six barn sales a season. The group sees, on the average, about $8,000 per sale and made about $42,000 last year.

As the barn sale has gotten bigger over the years, the amount of money the sale generates also has grown.

“When it was at my house, if we made over $5,000 the whole season, we did well,” Grandt said.

The barn sale features a variety of items, including housewares, books, vinyl records, compact discs, office supplies, sporting goods, holiday-related items and lamps.

“There is one room in the barn that I call my Christmas explosion room,” Grandt said. “It’s all Christmas items.”

Three garage bays underneath the barn are used to display furniture and other items. A separate building behind the barn contains clothes for children and adults and there are tents containing pet supplies, tools and sporting goods.

All of the items are donated.

“People have been so incredibly generous this year,” Grandt said.

Rover Rescue will hold a customer appreciation day Saturday, Sept. 21.

Next year’s barn sales will feature all new items. The items in this year’s sales will be given to other nonprofit organizations like the Salvation Army and Goodwill.

“We don’t save anything for next year,” Grandt said. “It all goes away and we start from scratch.”

The sale attracts people from all over the area, including Chicago, DeKalb and Elgin. Although the barn sale features a variety of items, the group does not accept everything.

That includes car seats along with TV sets and monitors. Also, all donated items must be new or gently used.

Rover Rescue holds adoption events almost every weekend. An adoption event will take place at 9 a.m. Sept. 14 at Scooter’s Coffee, 15 W. South St., Plano.

There also will be an adoption event at noon Sept. 14 at Petco, 1660 Orchard Gateway Boulevard, North Aurora, and at 5 p.m. Sept. 19 at Filling Station Pub & Grill, 300 W. Main St. in downtown St. Charles.

More information about Rover Rescue is available at its website at roverrescue.org.