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| This is the 2003
Race for the Cure with Harley – Guide
Dog Puppy In Training |
My
love of dogs and my earlier interest in Seeing Eye Dogs
led me to an organization called Guide Dogs of America
in Sylmar, CA.www.guidedogsofamerica.org. This non-profit organization breeds dogs for guide dog
use and trains both the dog and the user for safe mobility
as a team. I never considered raising a puppy until a friend
of mine pointed out that blind people live in town homes,
work, and have cats … all the reasons I thought
I couldn’t do it were the reasons I actually SHOULD
do it. So, after much ado getting approval from both my
jobs, I applied to raise a guide dog puppy. Along came
Dodger, an 8-week old, very active and handsome black male
Labrador retriever pup. He became the joy in my life as
I took him everywhere I went from work to Disneyland to
the grocery store. I also became very involved with our
area group located in the south bay. I set up our own website
at www.eteamz.com/southbaypuppyraisers.
Sadly, Dodger did not want to be a guide dog and made a “career change” to
being my pet. He and I have become certified by Therapy Dogs International www.tdi-.org and
are able to go into hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and just about anywhere
that wants therapy dogs. We haven’t done a lot of work yet because of my
full time job, but, we are joining an orange county group called Kids N Pets www.kidsnpets.org and
hope to begin working more soon. I raised a second pup, Cayla, who also didn’t
want to be a guide dog and was placed by Guide Dogs of America with one of their
VIPs in Washington DC.
At the moment, I am not raising another puppy but am still quite active with
the school. I am on hand to help at any time. I take pups who need specialized
help, or ones who need a puppy raiser temporarily due to vacations, or ones who
need “finishing”. I have become a volunteer speaker and tour guide
also. I go to organizations and businesses and spread the word about Guide Dogs
of America and also conduct tours of the campus.
Dodger has also become involved in my charity work. Every spring we do the 5K
fundraiser walk called People and Paws Walk for Sight in Irvine, CA which benefits
the Foundation Fighting Blindness www.blindness.org/.
Each fall we do the Friends of Long Beach Animals, Walk for the Animals 5K fund
raiser http://friendsoflongbeachanimals.org The
Friends of Long Beach Animals is dedicated in its promotion of the humane treatment
and care of cats, dogs and all other animals through the education of the public
as to pet owner responsibilities Dodger also “volunteers” for ultrasound
clinics for the continuing advanced education of veterinarians. He lies on his
back for four hours while various vets learn improved skills on more modern ultrasound
equipment. By Dodger donating his tummy, an experimental animal does not have
to be used. The organization donates $50 each day to the charity of my choice.
My company, Rockwell Automation, has a yearly United Way Campaign and I was asked
to be the champion for that last year. Although this campaign is through Milwaukee,
WI, we were able to flag our contributions to go locally. To make it easy and
attractive for the employees to do this, I researched all the organizations I
could think of and provided all the local addresses and phone numbers for them
to be able to bring the money to their communities. And, since our corporation
matches the dollars, it doubled to our charities. We won the highest participation
award for 2003.
Rockwell
Automation has also committed to Habitat for Humanity
and we will be on a build in Santa Ana two Saturdays
this October. It is such a worthwhile cause and so
rewarding to work side by side with the family members
who will live in the dwelling you help to build.
Other organizations I’ve been able to help are the Children’s Hospital
of Orange County and the Olive Crest Foundation. I make a yearly donation to
the thrift shop at CHOC which really helps clean out my closets! I sent 450
Beanie Babies to Olive Crest when I realized that collecting them was ridiculous!
They sent me a hand written note thanking me for such a fun gift.
I would like to encourage everyone to select a charity. Find one that is important
to you and your family. Once you become engaged in it, it becomes a life changing
event for you. Your compassion becomes a passion. You don’t have to have
money to raise money or to help out worthwhile causes.
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