[nfbmi-talk] Fw: Leader Dog Receives $1 Million Grant to Support O&M Program

[Georgia Kitchen]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rachelle Kniffen 
To: ghkitchen at comcast.net 
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2013 4:04 PM
Subject: Leader Dog Receives $1 Million Grant to Support O&M Program


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                   Contact:          Rachelle Kniffen

                                                                                                                                                            (248) 659-5013

                                                                                                                                                rkniffen at leaderdog.org

 

 

Leader Dogs for the Blind Receives $1 Million Grant from Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Foundation

 

Grant Creates and Endows Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer 

Orientation and Mobility Internship Academy

 

ROCHESTER HILLS, MICH-[January 10, 2013]-Leader Dogs for the Blind today announced that it has received a $1 million grant from the Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Foundation to create and endow the Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Orientation and Mobility Internship Academy at Leader Dogs for the Blind.

 

By providing up to three endowed paid professional internships per year, the Dryer Internship Academy at Leader Dogs for the Blind will fill a critical role in the education of graduate-level orientation & mobility (O&M) students, who must complete an internship as part of their master's degree programs. O&M professionals play a critical role in teaching people who are blind or visually impaired the essential skills needed to travel in their daily endeavors using a white cane.

 

The grant also provides Leader Dogs for the Blind the ability to hire an additional experienced O&M professional. The new level of staffing will allow them to increase the number of clients they serve by 30-35 people each year.

 

"O&M specialists play a critical role in teaching our clients the skills necessary to be mobile and independent," said Leader Dogs for the Blind President & CEO Susan Daniels. "Creating the Dryer Internship Academy at Leader Dogs for the Blind will ensure that we not only can attract the best O&M professionals in the nation, but also partner with leading schools to continue extending the state of the art in education and innovation for services to people who are blind and visually impaired."

 

Edward Dryer was a Detroit-area banker who suddenly and unexpectedly lost almost all of his sight while on a business trip to New York City in the 1960s, realizing while in Times Square that his vision was becoming impaired. Losing his job, he worked with his wife Ellen, an advertising industry professional, to become an independent investor with great success while traveling around Detroit with as few aids as possible.

 

"Ed Dryer taught himself to live a self-sufficient and independent life and was always determined that his blindness wasn't going to limit his mobility," said Dryer Foundation President Jon B. Gandelot. "He and Ellen decided that their legacy would be to support research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and visual impairment and to support future individuals and families facing what they had gone through. The trustees of their Foundation believe that training future generations of orientation and mobility professionals at Leader Dogs for the Blind in their names is a fitting memorial to their shared vision."

 

The Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Orientation and Mobility Internship Academy at Leader Dogs for the Blind is expected to offer its first internship in 2013. More information will be available shortly at www.leaderdog.org.

 

 

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Leader Dogs for the Blind 
1039 S. Rochester Rd.
Rochester Hills, MI 48307
Toll Free 888/777.5332 

Empowering people who are blind or visually impaired with lifelong skills for independent travel through quality Leader Dogs, highly effective client instruction and innovative services.