WESTPORT — Pizza and pooches, under the auspices of the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce, together proved to be a dynamic duo, generating more than $10,000 for community causes.

The funds represent donations made possible by two recent chamber-sponsored events, Slice of Saugatuck and Westport Dog festivals. Both events returned this fall, after a year’s hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with “great success,” according to a statement from Matthew Mandell, the chamber’s executive director.

The beneficiary of Slice of Saugatuck, as in previous years, was Homes with Hope’s Gillespie Food Pantry, with a donation of $4,500 from the September event. More than $30,000 total has been raised over the years to help the pantry feed the hungry, the chamber reported.

The Dog Festival in October generated a total of $6,000 for donations: $4,000 of that amount went to TAILS, the event’s co-producer; $1,000 for the Westport Police Department, split between the K-9 unit and Animal Control via Westport Animal Shelter Advocates; $500 to Fidelco Guide Dogs; $250 to the Connecticut Humane Society, and $250 to Adopt-a-Dog, winners of the Jon Nowinski Memorial Community Champion Award. 

“We are thrilled to make these donations and help out where we can,” Mandell said in the statement. “It took a lot to run these two events as we did, but it was totally worth it. 

“The community completely embraced them and it showed Westport is still raring to go as we hopefully exit the pandemic,” he added.