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Letters from our Alumni
- Published in: Update - Issue 2 - 2010
- Listen to Article
Dear Leader Dog,
I recently got my Breeze. Thank you so much, I am having a ball. It is so neat. It is like seeing Niles [my hometown] in such a wonderfully new sight. I am learning things I did not even know about the town I grew up in. I love it.
Linda McLane and Disney
Dear Leader Dog,
I want to thank each and everyone that had input into the training of my current Leader Dog Joy. She truly fits her name. I can’t begin to count the number of times that she has protected me. I have to retire her soon due to arthritis, even though today it snowed and Joy was playing in the snow as if she was a puppy.
I am truly grateful for the gift that y’all gave to me. She is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.
Most of my family is grateful for Joy being in my life. She has given me more independence and freedom. My mom is so grateful because she always had a fear of me traveling by myself. Now, she doesn’t fear for me when I’m working with a dog. They are thankful that you guys gave me Joy.
Windy Peyton (currently working with her second Leader Dog, Soney)
Dear Leader Dog,
With this letter I express my satisfaction with the work of the Lions Clubs in Costa Rica and the United States to make a dream come true that without their support and dedication could never have happened. Within days I went from being low vision to someone with vision of 100%, all because of my Leader Dog.
From the moment it was given to me, it became an integral part of me. This dog gave me the trust I never got from my own family.
Now thanks to the work of Leader Dogs for the Blind, in less than a month I became more independent. I became a complete person with more freedom and more enthusiasm, and I am sure that in time with my dog, I will manage to perform amazing things, never before possible.
I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all Leader Dog staff who during my class time became my father, mother, and my new family of the United States.
Henrick Stins Beckles, San Jose’, Costa Rica
Dear Leader Dog,
I am forever thankful for Leader Dogs for the Blind, the three working Leader Dogs with whom I have been partnered, and the Lions who had the foresight to start such an amazing training facility over 70 years ago as a means for people with blindness and severe visual impairments to gain improved independence through these amazing animals. Thank you Leader Dog and Lions Club International.
Gary Schriver, posted on Facebook February 11, 2010