Sunderland's Animal Krackers thanks dedicated supports after essential shop is reopened following car crash

In July, a car crashed into the Animal Krackers shop front, in Grangetown forcing the charity’s dedicated volunteers to close the shop for 10 weeks while repair and renovation works were carried out.

Now the charity shop, which is the organisations main source of income, has been welcomed back into the community with open arms.

Sue Hardy, co-founder of Animal Krackers, said: “We’re so grateful for all the support that we’ve received from everyone.

“The charity shop is a key source of income and it’s great that we’ve been able to spruce it up a bit too.

“We have loyal customers that come back all the time so we’re always open to donations.

“Animal Krackers has been going for 17 years now and it’s fantastic we can continue.”

The organisation was set up in 2002, and became a registered charity two years later.

The dedicated team of volunteers at the animal rescue and rehoming charity work tirelessly to help animals in Sunderland, Washington, Durham, and on occasion Newcastle and South Tyneside.

The charity has also thanked Great Annual Savings which donated thousands of pounds over the last 12 months – including funds to help them back on their feet after the crash.

Judith Bennison, Group HR Director at Great Annual Savings Group (GAS), said: “Our staff are passionate when it comes to supporting our corporate charities, so we were all saddened to hear of the accident at the shop.

“We’ve raised more than £15,000 in the last 12 months alone for Animal Krackers, purely through staff contributions and fundraising, so we were keen to get that money to the charity to help them get back on their feet.

“I was honoured to be personally invited along to the re-opening and we’ve challenged our staff to raise even more funds to support Animal Krackers this year.

“It’s great news to see the shop open again.”