Newshounds!

Last week, retired guide Hector, who now spends his days with GDB's Community Relations Officer Michele Davis, celebrated his 12th birthday in style. In honor of his birthday, staff and volunteers on our Oregon campus participated in KGW-TV's Annual Food Drive and contributed more than 600 pounds of goods to the effort (pictured, above). GDB's donation was highlighted on the Channel 8 newscasts throughout the day. "There is a downside to stardom, however," said Michele. "Hector is no longer willing to do any more free gigs and now requires kibble paid in advance!"

In other news...

• Guide Dogs Give Back (webvets.com): Featuring the Shakes family, puppy raisers from San Ramon, Calif.
• Dog No. 22 (Los Angeles Daily Breeze, South Bay Pets:) Featuring puppy raiser and leader Pat Whitehead as she picks up her 22nd Guide Dog puppy.
• Skiing, Rock Climbing, Cycling: This Resident Does It Blind; San Ramon Girl Scouts Draw Inspiration From Blind Leader (sanramonpatch.com): Two articles profiling GDB alumna Gena Harper.
• Beeper Eggs Emit a Joyous Noise to Bay Area Blind Kids (Silicon Valley Mercury News, April 3, 2010): Highlighting the Blind Babies Foundation's annual Easter Egg hunt, and the Guide Dogs who were there to join in the fun.
• San Rafael Dog School Comes to the Aid of Local Residents (Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 6, 2010): A feature story about GDB alumna Nancy McMasters and her guide, Amity.

Snapshots!

Here is a sample of some of the fantastic photo submissions we received in the month of March, 2010. To see a slideshow of all of the month's submissions, please visit the gallery on our Flickr site.

Guide Dog puppy Chase as he's napping.

Submitted by Karen Abrams.

GDB retired stud dog, black Lab Freeman, was the recipient of the San Francisco SPCA's Pet Hero Award for his work as an an ovarian cancer sniffing dog at the Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, Calif. He is pictured at the SPCA's recent "Bark & Whine Ball" where he was honored. Photo submitted by Georgianne Meade, who writes: "We had a great time at the Ball. There was a band and great food. They had an 8' x 4' banner of Freeman hanging on the wall. He got so much attention that he was exhausted when he got home. There were 600 people and 300 dogs. Every dog was just so well behaved and so were all the parents." Kudos Freeman!

Momma… what’s a Guide Dog? Submitted by Ken Schopp.

What about those toys?! The puppies in the photo above are part of GDB’s Litter Raiser Program, where they spend the first several weeks of their lives in the homes of volunteer breeding stock custodians. The toys shown in the photo are GDB-approved, with supervision, for puppies of that age involved in the Litter Raiser program.

We've Got Mail: Kind Words

A peek into GDB's inbox....

Nanaimo visits Portland: A Letter from GDB alumna Tracy McGee

Dear Guide Dogs,

This spring break my good friend Donna, her guide Prudy, and her two children, Daniel (11) and Raylene (8) came from Nanaimo Canada for a visit. Donna and Prudy were just partnered up in August so my guide Fazio, my son, Colin (8), and myself had not met Prudy until this last week and boy oh boy did we ever have a wonderful time. My guide Fazio and I just celebrated our one year anniversary on March 7th, and it has been a year of many blessings.

Our guides were the best of friends and were the hardest of workers when it came to an outing that left our children tuckered out running behind the two young, speedy guides. Donna and I could not have been more satisfied with the independence that our guides provided us both this last week, as well as on a day to day basis. During the time that we all were together, I took Donna and the gang on the city bus many times, the MAX a few times, and we walked plenty to take our children to many outings, including an Easter egg hunt at the Casey Eye Institute. We had a wonderful time and want to thank Guide Dogs for our wonderful new partners.

Sincerely,

Tracy McGee

Heroes in the Community: A Letter from GDB supporter Michi Gorek

Dear Guide Dogs,

This is a double hero award nomination.

Today I went to Macy's at the Northgate Mall in San Rafael, and while I was waiting for a sales associate, I was fortunate to witness about six GDB instructors training their dogs on how to navigate the escalator. I am so happy to see this large corporation (Macy's) give our beloved local organization access to the escalators - something that is so foreign to any animal but necessary to the visually impaired. I am impressed by neighbors working together for a common good. Thank you Macy's and Thank you Guide Dogs. I was a fan of you both before, but I'm even more so now.

Sincerely,

Michi Gorek