Good Morning Angels: Angel help for special guide dogs

BACKGROUND: Visually impaired Paralympic swimmer, Cornell Leach, is one of the very happy owners of a South African Guide-Dogs Association support dog. Leach was born with Stargardt disease, a genetic visual impairment that causes progressive vision loss. She started swimming as a sport when she was 11-years old. "I realised that I could no longer take part in team sports as I could not see the ball in netball and hockey, even when the teachers tried to make things easier with a neon ball and neon vests. Swimming was my outlet."

Leach credits her beautiful black guide dog, Vogue, as one of the reasons for her excellent progress in the pool: "She enabled me to walk to the gym every day and because of that, I qualified to compete at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019. She has attended all my swim meets and practices since I got her, and sometimes she would support me by running up and down the pool length, when I reach the end, she would congratulate me with a big fat kiss across my face…”

Training a guide dog like Vogue is very costly and owning one, is not accessible to everyone. However, having a service dog can be life-changing to a person with special needs like the blind, physically impaired or children on the lower autism spectrum. A service dog can help hugely with mobility, independence, confidence and companionship.

REQUEST FOR: The SA Guide-Bogs Association of South Africa is represented by:

• Cornell Leach, Paralympic Swimmer and her guide dog, Vogue 
• Pieter van Niekerk, SA Guide Dogs Association PR Manager

ANGEL: The Good Morning Angels Fund NPC

SPONSORING: The Good Morning Angels Fund will get the ball rolling to assist the SA Guide Dogs Association with their fundraiser with a donation of R25,000.

YOU CAN HELP: The SA Guide Dogs Association is holding a telethon today. You can contribute by calling: 010 109 7760

For more information on the Telethon and how to donate: https://guidedog.org.za/sa-guide-dogs-telethon/ 

ORIGINAL REQUEST: 

It costs hundreds of thousands of Rand to train an assistance dog and hours to train visually impaired clients on how to use assistive devices. Every bit of your donation will go a long way in positively changing the lives of people. We have a huge deficit caused by COVID-19 and the continued economic decline. The money raised through Telethon will help go towards much-needed training costs.

We train:

Guide Dogs for people who are visually impaired

Service Dogs for people who are physically disabled

Autism Support Dogs for children on the lower autism disorder spectrum

Orientation and Mobility training gives people of all ages who have visually impaired training on how to live independently – this includes using the white cane, cooking, cleaning, drawing money, route mapping, shopping, etc. We also give them assistive devices at no charge to them. 

The actual training is approximately six to nine months but the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind is responsible for the puppy from the moment it is born. Working Dog training commences at around 12 months, depending on the breed. Therefore the entire training process takes an average of 18 to 24 months.

• R100 could go towards educational and sensory toys for our puppies in puppy blocks.
• R250 could go towards a collar or blanket for a puppy.
• R500 could go towards an assistive device such as a cane or a harness

• R1000 could go towards a training session for an Assistance Dog or O&M Client. 

There are many payment options available on the day and our friendly SA Guide-Dogs Staff will be able to assist you with the best option to suit you.

For more information on the Telethon and how to donate:  https://guidedog.org.za/sa-guide-dogs-telethon/

Need help or assistance? Send us an e-mail at angels@jacarandafm.com