December 2004

A message from the President
by Amy Hutchinson

It's hard to believe another year has flown by and the Field of Dogs seems to be thriving, even after having a rocky start this year. The founding officers and board members were frustrated trying to get help on different projects. That's when we decided we needed to call a "town meeting." We were overwhelmed by the support we received from everyone! We reorganized our board and added a great group of hard working people to it. We have a lot of great ideas for next year. We have begun a "wish list" for all the things we'd like to see accomplished in 2005. A few ideas are: a walkway around the inside perimeter of the park, replace or repair the stairs from the street, a permanent awning... We have also begun the process of speaking to the Board of Supervisors for some monetary assistance for upgrades and improvements. This will be a slow and difficult procedure since the County of Marin has yet to give us any money thus far.

The first roadblock we encountered this year was getting volunteers to help with the annual lasagna dinner. We were unable to organize the dinner with only a few volunteers, so had to cancel it. This was a hard decision for us to make, since the dinner and auction is our primary fund-raising event. You may not realize how many people it takes to host the dinner. The auction committee starts in February requesting donations from businesses for the live and silent auction." We need a kitchen committee, set up and clean up committee, food servers, auction spotters, raffle ticket sellers, bartenders, etc....

It is quite a large production to have this dinner. We are hoping to host the dinner next year May 14, 2005. Please, think about which committee you'd like to help with when those sign-ups are posted. Please sign up!! The sign-up sheets will be posted a month prior to the dinner, at the Dog Park under the canopy. We'd like to have other events throughout the year. Perhaps a dog and owner walk/run, publish a cookbook, another type of dinner.... If you have any fundraising ideas, call me. We'd also like to start some new traditions in '05. We really enjoyed the annual summer BBQ so much someone suggested that perhaps during the summer months, we host one a month. It's a great place to meet new friends and reacquaint with old ones and the dogs love it. How about Friday night potlucks? Or wine and cheese nights? If you have any new and fun ideas for the park, please call or e-mail us.

The Board of Directors would like to thank every one of you who volunteers at the park. To all of you who water the trees, pick up poop, pull weeds, come to the monthly work parties.... We thank you tremendously. Without you, this park wouldn't be where it is today. Some people still do not know about the Field of Dogs. We are a group of volunteers who are dedicated to make a happy and safe environment for our dogs. Neither the City of San Rafael or the County of Marin give us any monetary assistance.. at least not yet.

This is your park. Take pride in it. Pick up poop, fill holes, pull weeds, pick up garbage, repair benches. Whatever you see that needs to be done, please do it.

Thank you to all who use the park and donate to its cause.