Aidan Curtis
STORY Dogs will put a second dog into Suttontown Primary School next year following a successful Story Dogs Giving Day fundraiser.
On both Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26, the Mount Gambier / Berrin Story Dogs team spent the day at Bunnings to raise awareness and money to fund a second Suttontown dog.
The team had a goal of $500, which Story Dogs volunteer coordinator Helen Williams said was more than accounted for.
Ms Williams said they raised over $1500 across the two days, including school and online donations, and she was “over the moon” at the community response.
“I’m very, very happy, but I think the thing that has made me the happiest is the amount of awareness that we raised,” she said.
“I think just having that amount of money on the Saturday, if those people just donated a dollar, that’s 719 people that now know about Story Dogs.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that there’s that much more awareness now and the dogs were so well received.”
But for Ms Williams, the best part was seeing how quickly the word about Story Dogs had spread through the community.
“We visited Suttontown School on the Monday just to show them that there’s more Story Dogs than the one they have at their school,” she said.
“We told them we would be at Bunnings, and one family got their grandparents to come all the way from Bordertown to come and meet the Story Dogs.
“I thought that was just beautiful.”
Ms Williams hoped the awareness raised would filter back to schools in the region to help bring more Story Dogs to more students.
