A committee that advises the city on accessibility issues for Dunedin's disabled wants to hear how it can help make life easier. Members of the Americans with Disabilities Act Advisory Committee invite the public to join them Saturday for some informal dessert and discussion at the Dunedin Community Center.  This group helped improve accessibility at the Post Office on County Road 1 a few years ago, said Joan McHale, committee member, and it is hoping to gain insight for making Dunedin's programs, services and buildings more accessible for people with disabilities. What to expect if you go…

Lynda Mink’s yard looks like the canvas of a gardener gone mad.  It should. Her home is a National Wildlife Foundation-certified wildlife habitat. Plants, in various stages of growth, mounds of dirt and buckets surround Mink’s Santa Anna Drive home. She calls the disheveled plot the “Whinot Garden?” “If just one percent of Dunedin households would plant an organic, edible garden, there could be 173 new gardens a year,” Mink said. She believes everyone can provide nutritious food for themselves and others. It’s a belief that pervades every aspect of her life — from her activism for the 1-…

Patch's “Give 5” volunteer day is coming up! We linked up with Keep Pinellas Beautiful in honor of our most beloved of Patch-wide initiatives to set aside five working days for its employees to give back to the communities they serve. Keep Pinellas Beautiful and many of your favorite Pinellas County Patch editors — including Dunedin Patch editor Kathryn Dolac — are joining forces Thursday to clean up Blackthorn Memorial Park. You are invited to join us in our beach cleaning efforts! (The more the merrier.) We’ll be at the north end of the Skyway Bridge from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July …

Florida English Language Institute is looking for families to host exchange students. The Florida English Language Insitute is a private school in Dunedin that prepares non-native English speakers for collegiate studies. The students spend their days taking English classes and participating in other activities with the institute. Host families would provide breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each family is provided $150 per week, per student to pay for food. Exchange students are ages 16 to 18. The duration of their stay is one month. FELI, located near the Dunedin Public Library, 201 Douglas Ave…

Summer just began for parents and students in Dunedin, but for Karen Rose it is crunch time. Any number of students from around the world are counting on her to go to school in August. Rose is a coordinator and advocate for PAX, an organization that arranges host families for study abroad students. And she just said goodbye to last year’s success story, a 15-year-old girl from Thailand named Eye. Rose misses her more than she can describe. Whatever description she can muster breaks around her words as she recalls her time with Eye and the impact she had on her life. But there is no time for …

"Wyatt the Wonder Dog" hasn’t allowed setbacks to slow him down, and neither is a Dunedin volunteer group. The Lab mix had only been living with Judy Richman of North Hyde Park for six months when he escaped from his yard shortly before Christmas 2010. Wyatt ran into traffic on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa and was struck by an oncoming car. A witness contacted Richman from a number on Wyatt's dog tag. “I literally screamed out, ‘NOOOO!’ in the bookstore,” Richman said. Richman and her friend rushed to the scene. She said she assumed Wyatt would be dead because Kennedy is a busy highway with at …

If ever there were a philanthropic justification for shopping (and dining) 'til you drop, this is it. At least 50 Dunedin restaurant and retail merchants are pledging percentages of Wednesday's proceeds, tips and salaries for the victims of recent natural disasters throughout the country in a united business effort dubbed "Chalice for a Cause — Waiting for Relief." The "Waiting for Relief" concept was born of a group of servers in Tampa in response to earthquakes and tsunamis that struck India in 2004. Dunedin servers tailored the idea in response to a call for relief after the Haitian …

Dunedin Memorial American Legion Post 275 Commander Sid Damsgard got a charitable haircut this Cinco de Mayo. Damsgard, a former U.S. Navy service member, grew his hair into a long, 12-inch, hippie-ish ponytail over the past five years. Not quite military regulation. He celebrated six decades on his May 5 birthday by chopping it all off. His peppered silver locks went to Locks of Love, a charitable organization that makes wigs for children with prolonged medical hair loss. The giving didn’t stop there. Damsgard found a way for others to contribute, making his 12-inches of hair stretch longer…