Before you begin depleting your financial resources for the holiday season, consider using a comparatively small amount of money to support your local off-leash dog park.The Citizens for Off Leash Areas (COLA) is a volunteer, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that finances the promoting, maintaining and creating of off-leash parks in Seattle. Annual membership dues pay for the "mutt mitts" that conscientious owners use to pick up their dogs' doody.
COLA is in no way associated with this blog. It wouldn't be surprising if some COLA board members wished this bodacious blog would go away. But it doesn't take possession of Phi Beta Kappa keychain -- one earned by hard work and good grades and not via an eBay purchase -- to figure out those of us who take our dogs to the off-leash areas bear responsibility in ensuring that our parks remain open and viable.
Membership dues are dirt cheap when you consider the number of times that you frequent Genesee Park in the Lovely Rainier Valley... or any of the other off-leash areas in the city proper:
- $20 for individual;
- #35 for family;
- $50 for supporter;
- $100 for business.
Consider that if you chauffeur your dog to Marymoor once a week, you'll pay $52 a year for parking fees alone. Isn't an annual COLA membership worth avoiding weekly trips to the Eastside? You can stay in the Lovely Rainier Valley because you want to... and not because the ankle bracelet will alert the authorities when you travel north of Safeco Field or east of Lake Washington.
Did we mention that COLA is a tax-deductible, 501(c)(3) organization?
COLA doesn't employ the hard-sell guilt trip like, say. public television. You don't have to sit through pledge broadcasts of an Osmond family reunion concert in Vegas, introductory yoga for IBS patients, or KCTS Cooks With Boiling Water.
Before you spend three bills outfitting your family and pets in Snuggies for the holidays 0r blowing a paycheck on Black Friday purchases, give to COLA. Do you really think you'll land one of three available $400 laptops at the box store? COLA's link is provided for your convenience.
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