Going to the Dogs

In case you haven't read or seen information on this yet, Oak Forest is a part of a national contest hosted by Petsafe to win money towards the construction of a dog park.  Its called "Bark for your Park."  Barking, of course, means voting.  The Patch even put a about this.

Oak Forest has seen a massive push in this contest.  We were in 8th place a few weeks ago, and now find ourselves (as of July 11) in 3rd.  This is a number's game - we need more people to vote every day.  We need to get the word out about this - and many people are doing just that.  City officials are behind this effort - some are putting in tons of personal hours to help make this happen. 

I am really excited to be a part of this.  Its been a long time since Oak Forest-ziens have all been on the same page about something.  A committee has been out raising money for a while to have a park for our four legged friends.  We've raised a lot so far, but this contest will really kick the project into high gear.  But, how will this benefit Oak Forest?

How many posts on the Patch ask "What should go here?"  Many empty store fronts, many unused spaces.  We all talk about what we could do - something that would be unique, that would attract people to come to our city.  Attractions like this drive commerce - people come, they have a need to buy things, or eat food while they are here. 

When we have people coming to our dog park, the decisions on what should go here become easier - businesses will have a real insentive to come here.  I know it isn't a major shopping mall type driver, but we need to start somewhere.  Its time to stop talking and start doing.

What we need is your support.  It only takes a few minutes every day.  There are four things to do, every day.

• Vote on the Petsafe website and vote there
• Vote on Facebook
• View the video after you vote
• Post the link to the Petsafe website on your Facebook news feed, Twitter, Google+ - or whereever you find your social circles lead you -  and encourage others to vote.  They don't have to be from Oak Forest to support us.
• Friday's are particularly important.  There's a sniff out the vote contest where we can earn 7 votes by answering a quiz question about Petsafe's website.  We post the answers on our Facebook event and group pages.

If you can volunteer to get the word out at local events or at stores, please let me know.  I can connect you with the movement to help equip you to get the word out.  Stores, train stations, at work, people you walk by, etc...everyone can help.

Let's get out there and do this.  Vote for the park, every day.  Tell at least 10 new people about the voting every day.  We can pull together and make this dream come true - and use this park as a starting ground for our community's efforts to rebuild and reinvent itself.   I know we have it in ourselves to do it.  Now - let's show the world what a great community Oak Forest is!