My Nonprofit Reviews

Twenty-five years ago Southeastern Guide Dogs was a new nonprofit organization in my community. I was one of their first kennel volunteers in the first guide dog school for the blind in the southeast. My career, marriage, and son soon demanded a lot of my time and I drifted away from the organization only to return to the Southeastern Guide Dog Campus in 2008 as a Puppy Raiser. A Puppy Raiser is a person or family who takes a two month old puppy into their home and teaches it basic obedience and gives it socialization experiences. When the puppy is approximately 15 months old the Puppy Raiser returns the dog to the Southeastern Guide Dog Campus to begin it's formal harness training to become a guide dog for the blind. I was amazed at the vast improvements made to the SEGD campus in Palmetto, Florida during the years I was not active in volunteering. The 23 acre campus houses world class facilities to help reach it's mission of providing guide dogs to visually impaired individuals to facilitate life's journey with mobility, independence, and diginity. There are breeding kennels, training kennels, dormitories, a freedom walk for training, and an administration building. Visually impaired and blind individuals who are accepted into the program have the opportunity to receive a guide dog that was bred on campus, raised by a puppy raiser associated with SEGD, and trained on campus and in the surrounding Tampa Bay community all at no cost to them or their family. The class lives in beautifully furnished rooms on campus for 26 days while in training with their guide dog and their meals are prepared by an outstanding chef, again at no cost to them. Every opportunity is made to help the individual who has left their home for these 26 days to feel welcome. The estimated $60,000 to raise and train a guide dog is completely offset by private or corporate donations. The first puppy we raised, Scout, is a beautiful yellow Labrador Retriever with a big head and an even bigger heart. He was matched with a person who was blinded while on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces under the school's Paws For Patriots Program. Our family has such great pride that our efforts in raising Scout along with the SEGD professional trainers has provided this individual with the opportunity for freedom, independence, and joy. My husband, who is a veteran of the U.S. Army can not even speak of the wonderful expereince of our family being a puppy raiser and the dog we raised going to a veteran without tearing up. And what a wonderful lesson in life this has been for our 12 year old son! Southeastern Guide Dogs makes miracles happen for visually impaired or blind individuals. My family and I are fortunate to be a part of this wonderful organization.

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