Volume 9 *** The Seeing Eye Puppies Prepare for Online Auction The Seeing Eye puppies had fun unpacking the items for The Seeing Eye's 4th Annual Online Auction! What did they think of the items? Watch them unpack and play at: http://youtu.be/qkmFeVEkTvE Come join the bidding at www.SeeingEye.org/Auction2012 from April 23 to May 2, and be part of the miracle that transforms a puppy into a world of possibilities for a person who is blind. All you need to do is point, click, and bid! Browse our designer items, get-a-ways, dog supplies, sporting events, unique Seeing Eye experiences, blindness/low vision items, and more. The biggest bonus of all, your participation supports the powerful mission of The Seeing Eye, to raise, train, and match Seeing Eye Dogs with people who are blind, enhancing their independence and mobility. Help us spread the word about our auction! Follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SeeingEye and Twitter at www.Twitter.com/SeeingEyeInc for updates that you can share with your family and friends. Throughout April, we’ll announce chances for those who share the auction announcements to be entered into a prize drawing! Sign up for auction updates or refer a friend and your name will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a $100 VISA gift card. Visit www.SeeingEye.org/Auction2012 to learn more. Print our 2012 Auction Flyer and post it at your local businesses. If you plan to post flyers on our behalf, we ask that you get permission from the business owner and be diligent about taking down the flyers after the auction. The Seeing Eye is proud to recognize our 2012 auction sponsors. These companies have made a generous commitment to providing independence for people who are blind or visually impaired through Seeing Eye dogs. Platinum Sponsors: National Industries for the Blind and TD Bank. Gold Sponsors: Clearbrook Global Advisors and NK Architects. Silver Sponsors: Lois Schneider Realtor and Martha McDonnell, LRS Sales Associate. *** Seeing Eye Graduate Picks up Her Paint Brush Once Again Captions: Webb is shown painting a scenic landscape mural on a wall at the Pearlman Cancer Center. Evon is laying in her soft crate, surrounded by paint supplies, and supervising Webb’s work on the mural. It had been seven years since Terri Webb had picked up a paintbrush, when she first stepped foot in the lobby of The Seeing Eye. It was just this past January and after nearly four weeks of intensive training with a female German shepherd named Evon, that Webb returned to her home in Georgia with a new outlook on life. Webb is an artist by trade but due to the sudden onset of a life threatening illness and progressive vision loss due to a genetic disease, she was forced to take a break from her passion and devote herself to recovery and rehabilitation. She says, “Getting Evon was the final step to entering back into my world of art. I have never walked nor thought I could walk as strongly or confidently as I do with Evon. Every step I take is a blessing.” Webb jumped back into her passion in a big way. In just a few short months, Webb has taken up teaching art at a nearby private school and restarted her business as an artist. Her first commission was a 40-foot-wide and 20-foot-tall mural for the Pearlman Cancer Center in Valdosta, Ga. The mural is dedicated in the memory of her best friend, Kim, who was treated at the center during her battle with cancer. Webb’s limited field of vision allows her to paint six inches at a time. “I painted nose-to-wall with a paintbrush in between and completed the project in two weeks. My husband helped with the scaffolding and gave me feedback on how the painting looked from a distance.” Webb wrote a letter to The Seeing Eye to express her feelings about her new Seeing Eye dog: “She has brought me beyond challenged, beyond fear, beyond exhaustion, to a place that is exhilarating. I feel such a sense of freedom as we walk to work and to visit friends. My step is higher and I am traveling at a speed I never realized I could reach again independently. Evon will keep me young for many years to come. I look forward to what is ahead of us, and it is a comfort to know you guys are, as always, behind, in front, beside, and all around us making sure we take the right turns.” *** Join us for Seeing Eye Day at Six Flags in New Jersey! Photo Caption: Seeing Eye puppy Vinson, a yellow Lab and golden cross, sits aboard the kids’ roller coaster toy at The Seeing Eye breeding station when he was just a few weeks old. All Seeing Eye supporters are invited for a special Seeing Eye themed day at Six Flags Great Adventure and Wild Safari theme park in Jackson, N.J. Seeing Eye Day is Saturday, May 19, during the normal operating hours of 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Educational presentations hosted by Seeing Eye staff and puppy raisers are scheduled between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. in the park’s Showcase Theater. Stop by The Seeing Eye table by the park entrance for show times. A special ticket price of $30.99 will apply and can be used any regularly scheduled operating day through October 14, 2012 if you are unable to attend Seeing Eye Day on May 19. A portion of each ticket sold will be donated to The Seeing Eye! Tickets include admission to both Six Flags Great Adventure and Wild Safari. Regularly priced combo tickets are over $70 each, so take advantage of this savings which can be used throughout the season! Purchase your discounted tickets at http://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure. Be sure to enter the word “GUIDEDOG” in the promo code box at the top right of the screen. *** Vote for a Hero Dog and Support The Seeing Eye Photo Caption: Vote for your favorite hero dog daily and help us win the grand prize! Voting ends June, 30, 2012. The American Humane Association Hero Dog awards seek to identify ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things. Each nominated dog is asked to select a charity partner. If that dog wins, the charity partner can win up to $15,000! This year, eight dogs in the guide dog category have selected The Seeing Eye as their charity partner. Please visit these dogs online and vote for your favorite dog daily. The voting ends on June 30 and the winners will be announced during a national broadcast on the Hallmark Channel in October. Vote for your favorite dog by visiting http://www.herodogawards.org/charitypartnerdogs?partner=The+Seeing+Eye today! *** Ride, Run or Walk for The Seeing Eye Photo caption: Use the The Seeing Eye Run and Fondo images. The Seeing Eye Gran Fondo promotional image is a yellow yield sign with a Labrador retriever, golden retriever and German shepherd pedaling on bicycles. The Run 4 The Seeing Eye logo is the silhouette of a golden retriever in harness trotting in front of a diamond which was inspired by the shape of the Superman symbol. Registration is now open for both Gran Fondo New Jersey and Run 4 The Seeing Eye! These two exciting events to benefit The Seeing Eye are scheduled for the weekend of September 8-9, 2012. The bike tour on September 9, will have an 18-mile Breve Fondo in addition to the 43-mile Piccolo, 60-mile Medio and 103-mile Gran Fondo routes. We’ve also added a whole new event: Run 4 The Seeing Eye! On September 8, The Seeing Eye will be the sole beneficiary of a 4-mile and 1-mile walk/run event. As with the bike tour, teams are encouraged to participate and raise funds. Help us meet our fundraising goal of $100,000 for the weekend! Visit www.SeeingEye.org/Fondo to sign up, contribute to a Gran Fondo team, or learn about sponsorship opportunities for the run. Stay tuned for more information about this exciting weekend. Whether you can ride, run, walk, volunteer or donate to this special cause, we’ll need your help! *** Did you know? Photo Caption: An early photo of Morris Frank and Buddy. Buddy has stopped at a curb and Frank is using his walking or wooden cane to detect the curb. In the beginning, Seeing Eye students were taught to work their dogs on the left and hold a walking or wooden cane, not to be confused with an early version of the white cane, in their right hand. The cane was a tool used to feel the environment such as detecting curbs and steps. Due to an improved harness design, a standardized American infrastructure and refined training techniques, the cane was phased out early in guide dog history. Today, students are taught to use their foot to detect curbs and steps in their environment. *** Lukas Franck Recognized Congratulations to The Seeing Eye’s Senior Consultant of Special Projects, Lukas Franck, for recently having his article published in the December 2011 issue of The Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, the international peer-reviewed journal of record in the field. The article is titled, “Canaries in the Coal Mine? Dog Guide Schools Look at the Current State of Orientation and Mobility” and was co-authored by Franck and experts from two other guide dog schools. Visit http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pubjvib.asp?DocID=jvib0511toc to access the article. *** Seeing Eye Puppies Get to Board a Plane! Caption: Puppy raiser Sarah Hartigan is sitting in an airplane seat with Seeing Eye puppy, Vinson. The yellow Labrador and golden retriever cross puppy is at her feet, just under the seat ahead of them. In March, Seeing Eye puppy Vinson, along with some of his best pals, participated in an adventure at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Read all about it on Vinson’s blog here http://theseeingeyeinc.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html and be sure to follow Vinson at www.SeeingEyePuppy.com! ***