Pawsitive Hearts Pet Therapy and Rescue Inc. will host a fundraising flea market on Saturday, June 17, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Vet on Main, 330 W. Main St., Birdsboro. Shoppers will also be able to purchase grilled hamburgers and hot dogs beginning at 11 a.m., along with snacks, soft drinks and homemade baked goods.

Pawsitive Hearts will also have a table at the event, where items will be available by donation only. "We have a lot of dog accessories - leashes, collars and harnesses - and dog toys for sale and T-shirts that say Rescue Love," said executive director Kathy Iglar.

In addition to the flea market, vendors will sell items such as handmade soup, greeting cards, pet treat bags and embroidered items featuring dogs and cats. Some of the vendors will donate a portion of the proceeds from their sales to the rescue.

Iglar noted that while there will not be adoptable pets on hand at the flea market, visitors can learn about the pets currently looking for homes. Among the pets available are Dusty Rose, an adult cat, and Xena, a 1-year-old female German Shepard. "She's sweet and loves playing with big dogs like her foster brothers, who are Great Pyrenees," noted Iglar.

The pet rescue, founded in 2020, is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that focuses on rescuing pets in need of homes and providing animal-assisted therapy. Currently, the rescue's cats and kittens are housed at PetSmart Adoption Center, 4210 N. Fifth Street Highway, Temple, and at Petco, 4607 Perkiomen Ave., Reading. "We need volunteers for both of those centers," Iglar noted.

Volunteers are asked to spend a minimum of 30 minutes at the store. Volunteers clean the litter boxes, make sure the cats have fresh water and food and check that their habitats are clean and tidy. They also help socialize the cats and kittens by petting them and playing with them.

In addition to rescuing cats and kittens, Pawsitive Hearts provides animal-assisted therapy services. Recently, teams visited with employees at the R.M. Palmer Company in West Reading, which suffered a fire. "We reached out to them right after the incident. We (visited) on multiple days," said Iglar. "They were really appreciative. We were outside, and the dogs had a great time."

Iglar said the purpose of the flea market is not only to raise funds, but to bring awareness to the organization's need for volunteers, including therapy dog teams. "These types of events are a good fundraiser, but at the same time, it's more about trying to get the word out," she stated. "We will have (handouts) that talk about what we do and how to support us."

Iglar said that Pawsitive Hearts is hoping to someday have a building of its own. "Paws of Thunder, a motorcycle ride in September, is earmarked for our building fund," she said, adding, "Money raised at the flea market will go for our emergency fund. We just had a mom cat and three kittens that had to go (an) emergency vet. We used our emergency funds for that and are trying to build that back up."

For more information about the rescue or the flea market, visit http://www.pawsitiveheartspa.org or http://www.facebook.com/pawsitiveheartspa.