[nagdu] The Seeing Eye celebrates 15,000th guide dog pairing

[Marion & Martin]

Ginger,
    This is a great article! Congratulations on the milestone!

Fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ginger Kutsch" <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 8:09 PM
Subject: [nagdu] The Seeing Eye celebrates 15,000th guide dog pairing


> The Seeing Eye in Morris County celebrates 15,000th guide dog
> pairing
> http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/print.html?entry=/2010/02
> /the_seeing_eye_in_morris_count.html
> By Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger
> February 13, 2010, 7:30AM
>
> Photo courtesy of The Seeing EyeJosephine DeFini, second from
> leftm with her first dog Halla in 1957 from The Seeing Eye in
> Morris County.
> MORRIS TOWNSHIP -- Josephine DeFini, who is blind, has had nine
> guide dogs since graduating high school in 1957.
>
> All of them have been provided by The Seeing Eye in Morris
> County, and each one has immeasurably improved the life of the
> 70-year-old New York City resident, she said.
>
> "The ease, freedom, and sense of security and confidence a
> seeing-eye dog affords you makes life so much easier," DeFini
> said Friday during a celebration marking a milestone of the
> nonprofit organization.
>
> DeFini's latest guide dog, a Labrador Retriever named Zion, was
> the Seeing Eye's 15,000th pooch to have been partnered with a
> blind person during the past eight decades.
>
> "How big is 15,000?" Seeing Eye President/CEO Jim Kutsch
> rhetorically asked a crowd of 200 people. "That's 15,000 dog
> noses and tails, 30,000 ears, 60,000 paws and over a
> quarter-of-a-million toenails - and we can go on and on. Imagine
> the number of teeth in 15,000 dogs."
>
> "It puts it in perspective how many lives have been changed by
> the work we do," continued Kutsch, who also is blind. "You begin
> to understand the magnitude of what happens here at Seeing Eye."
>
> Based in Morris Township, The Seeing Eye was founded 81 years ago
> (that's about 567 in dog years), and has since served more than
> 8,000 people. It is the world's oldest guide dog school for the
> blind and visually impaired in the United States and Canada, and
> is considered the leading such school in the world. There are
> about a dozen in the nation, and 72 worldwide accredited by the
> International Dog Guide Federation.
>
> Nearly 300 students annually attend The Seeing Eye to learn how
> to instruct and bond with their guide dogs. Students frequently
> are seen walking with their dogs and instructors in nearby
> Morristown, where statues of the organization's co-founder,
> Morris Frank, and his guide dog, Buddy are just off the downtown
> green.
>
> Frank started The Seeing Eye in 1929 in Nashville, Tenn., after
> being inspired by a 1927 article in The Saturday Evening Post
> about guide dogs assisting blind World War I veterans written by
> well-known dog breeder and philanthropist Dorothy Harrison
> Eustis.
>
> Frank moved in 1931 to Morris County, where The Seeing Eye took
> up residency in Whippany until 1965 before moving to Morris
> Township.
>
> It also operates a breeding kennel in Chester Township, where
> about 500 puppies of four breeds - German Shepherd, Labrador and
> Golden Retrievers and Lab-Golden mixes, are born each year.
>
> While it costs tens of thousands of dollars to match just one
> person with a dog, the school's annual $27 million budget is
> funded entirely with donations, spokeswoman Jean Thomas said.
> Students are charged $150 for their first dog, and $50 for any
> later canines.
>
> The school accommodates up to 24 students per class and holds 12
> classes per year.
>
> The 190 employees and 17 current students also used Friday's
> occasion to celebrate the 81st anniversary, on Jan. 29.
>
> A lifelong New York City resident, DeFini is a social worker and
> therapist who retired last year but continues a small private
> practice. For the past 52 years, she has been able to navigate
> Manhattan's hustle-and-bustle thanks to her guide dogs.
>
> 'Man's Best Friend' has truly lived up to the billing, she said.
>
> "These dogs will do their damndest," DeFini said. "I hope Zion
> and I have many years together. However, I know when the time
> comes (for a 10th dog) . I'll be back."
>
>
>
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