Local Girl Scouts Break Ground On Dog Park

The dog days of summer are about to begin and, thanks to two local Girl Scouts, it looks like local residents and their four-legged friends will have a place to spend them.

On Saturday, Kristen Hickey, 13, and Anna Colanduoni, 12, of Girl Scout Troop 6932 broke ground on a new dog park at as part of their Silver Award project.

The award is the second-highest tier in Girl Scouting, and requires members to complete a community service project by identifying a need in the community and taking action. For these girls, it was easy a no-brainer.

“We both really like animals, and this was important for us to do,” said Hickey. “I have a dog and she likes to run around a lot, but she never has anywhere to go.”

The girls worked closely with township officials to find land for the park, and contacted sponsors for their support.

“We had to do a lot of research and develop a plan before we got started,” said Colanduoni. “Once we found sponsors we wanted to involve, we emailed them and talked to them about what we were doing.”

From the looks of it, support was hardly an issue. In addition to friends and family, sponsors turned out to show their support for the girls at Saturday’s event. Local pet stores, pet adoption agencies and other groups set up shop under a pavilion to educate and inform attendees.

Once the project is completed, pending local road widening, there will be recreational areas for both large and small dogs.

“It was a lot of hard work, but we liked doing it,” said Colanduoni.