Military Wife Helps Raise Funds for 'Dog Park' Renovation at West Point

WEST POINT, NY — Thanks to the wife of a West Point colonel, families with dogs at the United State Military Academy will have a new amenity in their future.

Leigh Hansbarger, whose husband Col. Tom Hansbarger is director of cadet activities at West Point, suffered the lost of her dog Stella, a Jack Russell, while on vacation.

Coming back to West Point, after her loss, she would pass the area that was used as a place to exercise dogs of academy families and would think of her Stella.

Leigh Hansbarger said that the area wasn't really an official dog park; it was just a place that the milltary community used to play with and exercise their dogs.

She said that Stella loved the dog park.

“She would chase balls as long as her old body would let her,” Hansbarger said.

“It was simply a fenced-in sort of grassy area, that was pretty sparse,” she said, in a recent phone interview.

“There was nothing for the dogs to do, no agility or anything fun,” Hansbarger said, adding that especially there was no drinking fountain for the pooches.

Then one day, while looking at Facebook, she saw a video from Beneful Dog Food that encouraged dog lovers to create a campaign for their local dog parks to raise funds for improvements, through the Beneful Dream Dog Park Project.

What made a impression on her was the fact that were was a Jack Russell in the video.

“When I saw that video, I just thought I would try to make [our dog park] fun again,” Hansbarger said.

She pitched her project and Beneful pledged to help her reach a fundraising goal of $15,000 via a GoFundMe page.

And reached it she did.

Now Hansbarger will use the money to start designing and building the dog park.

She that, while West Point owns the park, the government will not be financing any part of the renovations.

Col. Tom Hansbarger is currently deployed in Afghanistan. Leigh Hansbarger said military families move every couple of year, so it’s difficult to make and keep friends.

That was also part of the drive behind sprucing up the area and adding things that can engage and exercise the dogs.

“I want to make the dog park a really cool community gathering place,” she said. “I want to make it even cooler so more people will come.

Photo caption: The area used by West Point military families as a dog park will be renovated thanks to Leigh Hansbarge and the Beneful Dream Dog Park Project. Photo credit: Submitted.