[nagdu] Why should donors give to guide dog schools?

Hannah Chadwick sparklylicious at gmail.com
Fri Nov 8 21:19:36 UTC 2013


the thing is, we are all entitled to our own opinions.  People 
are going to give money to whatever organization they feel it's 
the most beneficial.  Peter Singer can't really control that.
 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Sherry Gomes" <sherriola at gmail.com
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog 
Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 8 Nov 2013 12:34:19 -0700
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Why should donors give to guide dog schools?

Well, Peter singer thinks parents should have the right to let 
disabled
children die, so his opinion about why donate to a guide dog 
school doesn't
count much with me.  I love the confidence and companionship that 
comes with
being a guide dog handler, the physical stability my guides give 
me as well.
I used to donate to GDB and so as a donor myself, I think all of 
that is
good enough reason.


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy 
Carcione
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 12:08 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog 
Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Why should donors give to guide dog schools?

Ginger, I guess I'd mention the countless times my dog has kept 
me from
being run over by a car or bike I didn't hear coming.
I heard Mr.  Singer on the radio yesterday.  He says it's human 
nature to
care more about what's close to us than what's far away, right or 
wrong.
And the cold truth is that I care more about blind Americans than 
I do about

people elsewhere.  Call me a monster if you like, but I'll keep 
giving my
money to TSE.  Selfish, you bet.  And I'll encourage others to do 
the same.
Folks can see how much my dog does for me.
Tracy

----- 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: Friday, November 08, 2013 12:08 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Why should donors give to guide dog schools?


 Ed, thanks for sharing this article.  It may be of interest to 
know that
 this
 article was published in response to comments made by Peter 
Singer, a
 well-known Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, who 
frequently
 lectures about effective altruism.  He recommends that donors 
put data
 ahead
 of passion and give to organizations that help the most people.  
He stated
 "You could provide one guide dog for one blind American, or you 
could cure
 between 400 and 2,000 people of blindness.  I think its clear 
what is the
 better thing to do."

 And really, if you stop to think about it, tax payers already 
pay for
 blind
 people to learn how to travel independently with a white cane.  
So in this
 case, it shouldn't be surprising that some might question why 
thousands of
 dollars more should be spent to provide a guide dog to a blind
 person...especially when some blind people assert that they 
travel just as
 well with a white cane as they do with a guide dog.

 I would be interested to hear from list members as to why they 
think
 donors
 should give to guide dog schools.  I could easily make an 
argument for list
 members like Mike M.  who sacrificed so much for our country -- 
no amount
 of
 money makes up for what he lost in service to each and every one 
of us.
 But
 for those of us who aren't wounded warriors, why should donors 
give money
 to
 help us? Said differently, if you were a fundraiser for a guide 
dog
 school,
 what would you say to convince a donor  to give to your school?

 Best,

 Ginger

 -----Original Message-----
 From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ed 
Meskys
 Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 10:32 AM
 To: nagdu
 Subject: [nagdu] dog guides

 Precious Eyes.
 NY Times Friday, 2013_11_08
 By PAUL SULLIVAN.  Paul Sullivan donates to charities for the 
blind,
 including guide dog schools..  JENNIFER MURRAY woke after a 
night out with
 friends and thought her husband was playing a trick on her.  She 
could not
 see anything and did not believe him when he said it was 
daytime.
 'It was like a light switch had been shut off,' she said.  'I 
shut my eyes,
 and I blinked.  And I tried it again several times.  Then I 
realized the sun
 was in my face, and I said, now what?
 Ms.  Murray had been battling to keep what little vision she had 
since her
 premature birth in 1978.  She had a bit of peripheral vision in 
one eye but
 nothing else.  A few years before the day when she lost her 
eyesight for
 good, she had an operation to implant a permanent contact lens 
in her
 right
 eye.  It gave her sight such as she had never had before.
 'I was giddy for weeks,' she said.  'I could see everything, and 
everybody
 was beautiful.
 I remember thinking life is so colorful and so pretty, and I 
wouldn't have
 taken that back for the world.
 With her vision gone again, Ms.  Murray said she began to 
withdraw from the
 world.
 Her husband, an Iraqi war veteran, was going through a difficult 
time, and
 life was a struggle.  With the birth of their son, Liam, who is 
now 2, Ms.
 Murray said she realized she needed to become more independent 
to care for
 him.
 'I realized the white cane wasn't cutting it,' she said.  'I was 
putting a
 lot of unspoken pressure on my husband and my son, which isn't 
fair to
 them.
 That was when she decided to try to get a guide dog.
 The mission of all guide dog schools is to create a team, 
pairing a blind
 person and a dog to give the person greater freedom and 
independence.  It
 would seem to be an easy cause for fund-raising.
 After all, most people melt when they see a puppy -- a big 
marketing tool
 for these schools -- and helping blind people lead better lives 
seems to
 be
 an unqualified good.
 Yet if the cause is an easy sell, the work is not cheap.  These 
schools
 need
 to raise money and engage volunteers on a very large scale to 
ensure they
 have enough resources to pay for the long, costly and often 
unsuccessful
 training of dogs.  One guide dog takes about two years to train 
and costs a
 total of $45,000 to $60,000, covering everything from boarding a 
dog to
 extensive drilling by professional trainers in serving the needs 
of the
 blind to a weekslong period acclimating dog to recipient.
 And about 45 percent of dogs bred by the schools do not make the 
grade.
 Those
 that
 do are provided free to people who need them.
 Beyond this, guide dog charities must compete in the wider 
contest for
 dollars among nonprofit organizations.  The Urban Institute, a 
research
 organization that focuses on social and economic issues, 
estimates that
 1.6
 million such groups operate in America today, a 25 percent 
increase in the
 last decade.
 'We're in competition with every charity and cause that's out 
there,' said
 Eliot Russman, chief executive and executive director of Fidelco 
Guide Dog
 Foundation, in Bloomfield, Conn.  'American Cancer Society, 
American Heart
 Society -- everyone is out there telling compelling stories.  
There is a
 finite pool of money.
 'We've got puppies, but Hole in the Wall Gang has dying 
children,' he
 said.
 'What's
 more compelling? Our donors have to have confidence in 
management.
 Mr.  Russman came to Fidelco from the advertising world, where 
his clients
 included McDonald's and Xerox.  And that experience has helped 
him sell
 potential donors on Fidelco, known for its German shepherds.
 Bob Forrester, president and chief executive of the Newman's Own
 Foundation,
 which receives its money from the line of foods created by Paul 
Newman in
 1982, and gives money to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, said 
the school
 fit
 with the foundation's mission of empowerment.  'We want to help 
people to
 rise to whatever their potential might be if that potential is 
being
 thwarted by circumstances beyond their control,'
 Mr.  Forrester said.
 He said that the foundation had given Fidelco $450,000 since 
2010 for a
 program that pairs guide dogs with blinded combat veterans.  'We 
think
 broadly that it will be for nine dogs, but specifically we trust 
and
 respect
 our nonprofits to use it well and let us know,' Mr.  Forrester 
said.
 One of the dogs the foundation's money paid to train is Xxon, a 
male
 German
 shepherd, who was paired with Michael Malarsie, an Air Force 
sergeant, a
 year to the day after he was nearly killed by a roadside bomb in
 Afghanistan
 in January 2010.  He survived a severe injury that left him 
blind, though
 four others in his unit were killed.
 In an interview last month before running a half-marathon in 
Hartford, Mr.
 Malarsie,
 25, said that when he was recovering at Walter Reed National 
Military
 Medical Center he decided he wanted a guide dog.  'I made a 
promise to
 myself
 that I wasn't going to let blindness slow me down,' he said.
 He has three children and said Xxon, with a sweet, gentle face 
not often
 associated with the breed, serves a more basic function: He 
helps him find
 his children when they hide from him.
 Mr.  Malarsie's wife, Julie, whose first husband died in the 
same blast --
 and who met Mr.  Malarsie when she and other widows of those 
killed visited
 survivors -- said Xxon had been just as important for the family 
as for
 Mr.
 Malarsie.  'He's not relying on me,' she said.  'I know he's 
safe and taken
 care of.  I know he's not going to wander off.  Xxon helped him 
find that
 independence and confidence.
 Like many nonprofits, guide dog schools find big corporate 
donations hard
 to
 attract.
 The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown, N.Y., 
receives
 contributions from local businesses.  One is Marchon, an eyewear 
company
 based on Long Island.
 Donna Rollins, vice president of United States sales operations 
at
 Marchon,
 said the company became involved with the foundation when the 
economy
 faltered in 2008.
 Marchon was having a party for 5,000 people at a trade show in 
Las Vegas
 and
 decided that, given the times, it should have a charitable 
component, she
 said.  'We had a band made up of eye doctors that was going to 
play, and we
 asked our partners to sponsor the band to benefit the Guide Dog
 Foundation,'
 she said.  That raised $25,000.
 Instead of having an open bar, the company paid for the first 
two drinks
 and
 charged
 $5 for additional ones, which raised another $5,000.
 While the company has continued to promote the foundation at its 
trade
 show,
 the amounts today are lower.
 Jean Thomas, director of donor and public relations at The 
Seeing Eye Inc.
 in
 Morristown,
 N.J., which says it is the oldest guide dog school in the world 
(founded
 in
 1929), said the school had had success in setting up lunches at 
companies
 to
 discuss what it does -- dogs in tow -- with employees.  Still, 
she said,
 three-quarters of Seeing Eye's support comes from bequests and 
estate
 gifts,
 two areas that could be in trouble for all nonprofit groups as 
younger
 donors seek to give while they are alive.
 The
 Seeing Eye and Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, Calif., 
each have
 endowments of more than $200 million, but they are exceptions 
among the
 dozen guide dog schools in the United States.  Most rely on 
individual
 donors
 to finance day-to-day operations.
 One way to raise money is to allow people to sponsor a dog, 
which entitles
 them to name it.  At the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, 
this costs
 $6,000 per puppy.
 'We have a lot of ways for donors to come to us,' said Katherine 
Fritz,
 director of development at the Guide Dog Foundation, citing 
events like
 bike
 races, walks and runs that typically net about $25,000.  A 
recent golf
 tournament brought in $185,000.
 'A majority of our donations come through direct mail and are 
from smaller
 donors,'
 she said.  'But we had one woman who gave $25 a year for 25 
years and made
 a
 six-figure donation in her estate, and she didn't inform us 
about it.
 One thing all of these schools share is the need for hundreds of
 volunteers
 a year to answer phones, give tours or just walk dogs.  They 
also need
 people
 to help socialize the dogs in their first year.  Called puppy 
walkers or
 puppy raisers, these volunteers take the puppy home at eight 
weeks, teach
 it
 the basics like obedience and return it when it is about 14 
months old.
 Roger, 70, and Sheila Woodhour, 68, of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., are 
on their
 29th German shepherd.  Fourteen of the puppies they have taken 
for The
 Seeing
 Eye have become guide dogs.  Yet Mrs.  Woodhour still gets 
choked up over
 their first one, Dorsey.
 'When I gave up Dorsey I thought no one was going to love her as 
much as I
 did,'
 she said.  But when she later saw Dorsey working, she changed 
her mind.  'I
 loved the dog, but I didn't need the dog,' she said.  'I 
realized it gives
 them purpose.
 She and other puppy walkers said the line they hear over and 
over from
 people is some version of, 'I could never do that because I 
couldn't give
 the dog back.
 Gail Horan, who raised Xxon as a puppy at her home in 
Farmington, Conn.,
 said she and her husband cried all the way to Fidelco the day he 
was due
 back.  She admitted that in the back of her mind she wondered if 
he might
 fail and come back to her.
 'That does go through your mind,' she said.  'But you have to 
remember
 that's
 not why you did it.  I wish there were words that could tell you 
how it
 made
 me feel when he passed' the training.  These schools also need 
volunteers
 to
 talk about what they do, with the goal of bringing in more 
volunteers and
 donations.
 Celebrities are part of this.  Isabella Rossellini, the Italian 
actress and
 model, and Betty White, the comedian and sitcom star, both 
volunteer to
 help
 schools for guide dogs.
 Ms.  White said she sponsors a dog each year at Guide Dogs for 
the Blind,
 and
 offers to have lunch or dinner with the highest bidder in an 
auction each
 year for The Seeing Eye.
 'It's a chance for me to say thank you for your support,' she 
said.  'It
 means we're all animal lovers, so we have no problem with 
conversation.
 Those dinners have fetched $5,500 to $20,000 each over the last 
five
 years.
 Ms.
 Rossellini
 has helped socialize 10 puppies for the Guide Dog Foundation.  
Seven have
 become working guide dogs.
 She has also helped four dogs as they gave birth in her Long 
Island home.
 A
 fund-raiser there last summer after a litter was born raised 
$6,000.  'I
 decided everything I do, whether I give money or I volunteer, I 
have to be
 hands on,' she said.
 'I
 see
 the rate of success.  I see they're useful.
 She added that, initially, 'I was interested in dogs, but it 
also makes me
 feel good that those dogs go to help people who are visually 
impaired.
 Criticism of guide dog charities often is based of the cost of 
training a
 dog and pairing it with a person.  The failure rate for these 
animals is
 high.  Dogs mainly wash out for health reasons -- bad eyesight, 
hip or
 stomach problems -- and for temperament, such as being too calm 
or too
 high-strung.  And they can work for only eight to
 10
 years before they retire to become pets.  A blind person could 
need six or
 seven dogs in a lifetime, which is a considerable expense.
 'We have something people can see and understand, but it is 
certainly
 still
 a challenging fund-raising environment,' Ms.  Thomas of The 
Seeing Eye
 said.
 'One of the challenges is, what we do has a profound impact on 
about 265
 people a year.  If you're going up against a charity that feeds 
one million
 people a year, that's a tough comparison.
 Philanthropic advisers point out, though, that while there are 
ways to
 affect more lives with the same dollars, donors might not get 
the same
 level
 of satisfaction out of doing it.  'If where you're giving to 
doesn't
 reflect
 things that you're interested and passionate about, it won't be 
very
 rewarding for you,' said Jim Coutre, partner at The 
Philanthropic
 Initiative
 in Boston.  'Donors have to be honest with themselves.
 If providing clean water to a village in Africa doesn't resonate 
with them
 emotionally, they're not going to throw themselves into it.
 He added, though, that people should still be discerning among 
different
 nonprofit organizations focusing on the same cause.  'There are 
lots of
 different organizations that train these dogs, but they're not 
all equal,'
 he said.  'Some are going to have more impact.
 The guide dog schools are addressing the high failure rate by 
improving
 breeding and training to reduce the number of animals that do 
not succeed
 and by finding other uses for them.
 Mr.  Russman said Fidelco dogs that do not make the cut 
sometimes work for
 the police departments in Connecticut and New York.  A 
Fidelco-trained dog
 found a survivor at the World Trade Center site the day after 
the attack
 in
 2001.  A few years ago, Wells B.  Jones, chief executive of the 
Guide Dog
 Foundation, said that the group saw a need for service dogs to 
help
 soldiers
 with traumatic injuries.  Called America's Vet Dogs, the program 
has since
 expanded to help civilians who have served the country.
 He said the former representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was 
shot in the
 head while meeting with constituents outside a Tucson 
supermarket in 2011,
 uses a dog trained through the program to help with balance.
 'We had dogs that weren't being used in the guide dog program 
that could
 contribute,'
 he said.  'We viewed that as an opportunity to meet a need using 
existing
 resources.
 Frankly it's turned out to have lots of benefits for us.  And 
it's added to
 what we were doing with veterans.
 Ed Bordley, a lawyer at the Justice Department in Washington who 
has been
 blind since age 10, said that after one winter navigating 
Harvard
 University
 as a freshman, he applied for a guide dog in 1976.
 'You had these snow banks and people parking their cars on the 
sidewalks
 so
 there was just a little room to get around,' he said.  'The dog 
would find
 the path in the snow banks and walk you around the cars.
 After graduating from Harvard Law School and embarking on a 
career that
 required him to travel, he appreciated the dog more.  'I feel 
that there is

 a
 dignity to having a dog,' said Mr.  Bordley, who is on his fifth 
dog.  'When
 you're using a cane, people grab you and direct you all the 
time.
 The dogs also do things a cane or any GPS device could not do.  
Cliff
 Aaron,
 a lawyer who works in Lower Manhattan and lost his sight late in 
life from

 a
 hereditary condition, said his first dog, Alto, kept him from 
getting hurt
 the first day they went to work.
 'I have to cross Church Street and Broadway every day,' he said.  
'I'd been
 relying on my hearing or someone to help me.  On my first day 
with him he
 stopped.  I couldn't figure it out.  Then I felt this wind go 
right past my
 face.  I knew right away it was a bike messenger who blew the 
light.
 Last month, after four weeks at The Seeing Eye, Ms.  Murray was 
getting
 ready
 to go home with her dog, Fuchsia.  'They've changed my life in 
ways they
 only
 think they know, but they don't know,' she said, with Fuchsia 
curled up by
 her chair.
 Yet she admitted to some trepidation in leaving the school and 
returning
 home to what will be a very different life with her dog.  She 
did not know
 how her life would be changed.
 'When I lost my sight, I kind of just sheltered in a bit,' she 
said.  'The
 first time I walked down the street with Fuchsia and I felt the 
wind on my
 face, I was smiling like a little kid.
 Tears of joy ran down from her closed eyes..  PHOTOS: LEARNING 
THE ROPES:
 Igloo
 is
 being trained at the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation in Bloomfield, 
Conn., to
 give a blind person more independence.  (F1); ONE ON ONE: A 
puppy gets
 personal attention at Fidelco.; NEW BEST FRIEND: Sue McCahill of 
The
 Seeing
 Eye helped Jennifer Murray adjust to a guide dog.  (PHOTOGRAPHS 
BY ANDREW
 SULLIVAN FOR THE NEW YORK
 TIMES)
 (F2).
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