The South Portland Dog Owners Group wants to express its appreciation to all who participated in our recent “Dogs for Dunes” fundraiser to support the city’s efforts to restore the dunes at Willard Beach. Dog owners (and others) stepped up by baking and purchasing homemade valentine dog treats, and by making additional donations to the cause. We originally scheduled four time slots for this fundraiser and sold out of all of our goodies the first morning.

Thanks to your support, we presented a check for $773 to the city of South Portland, which was accepted by the City Council at its meeting last week. These funds will be deposited in a fund that has been specifically earmarked for dune restoration. We continue to receive donations for this fundraiser and plan to keep the donation window open until the end of March. If you would like to contribute, please join our group on Facebook and look for the donate link pinned to the top of the page. Make a note in special instructions that your donation is for the Dogs for Dunes fundraiser.

We’re happy that we could show some love both to our best buddies and to the beach that we and they value so much. As always, please help us preserve our off-leash privileges at Willard and in all city parks and open spaces by being a responsible and thoughtful dog owner (which includes keeping your dog out of the dunes).

Peggy Stewart
South Portland