Last Updated on: 21st September 2012, 05:16 pm
Woe! I live! Yup. Somehow, I’m here…ish. I have a lot to say, just finding the time to say it is another matter.
I feel a little bad that my first post back is promoting the fact that GDB is looking for money, but it was an easy post to write since most of it was done already. So without further yammerings from me, here’s the letter.
Dear GDB Alumni,
I am both proud and excited to be writing you as a fellow guide dog graduate! Like you, I so appreciate everything that Guide Dogs for the Blind has done for us over the years by giving us these precious “gifts of miracles” called guide dogs. I have been so blessed with two wonderful fur-person guides.
I want to ask you to consider helping our alma mater build the long-needed new student residence at our San Rafael campus. I know that GDB has long refrained from asking us for donations, but this is the very first time in so many decades that they have undertaken a major capital campaign. It is such a great opportunity for all of us to show how much we appreciate the many ways they have so deeply enriched our lives.
Remember all the great times we had at the old dorm, the cozy day room, the great meals, and the evenings when we sat around and talked about our hopes and how our special new partners were working out? Remember returning to our rooms to wait for our new guides to be brought to us for the first time, and wishing we could be alone at that special moment to bond, embrace, and to allow our emotions to flow? Remember, too, the water leaks, the unfortunate timing of the showers going ice cold and the heater dying? Well, thankfully, the great times will always be with us, and the other times, well, they will be history! Whether we attended class in Oregon or California, we can all appreciate the importance of having a comfortable, warm and welcoming environment in which to begin our new partnerships. And maybe most importantly, the new dorm will provide San Rafael students what we’ve all been waiting for: the privacy and convenience of single rooms!
Fundraising for this project began last year. I am pleased to report that we have already received many generous donations. GDB is now embarking on the “Community Phase” of the fundraising campaign, reaching out to its closest constituents: puppy raisers, breeder custodians, staff, campus volunteers, and, of course, us graduates. As the only GDB beneficiaries, and we need to and can send a powerful message to other potential donors of just how strongly we all believe in and support Guide Dogs’ mission. So whether it’s $10 or $10,000, it is my hope that every graduate can find a way to contribute to this important undertaking.
You and I know that our guides, our special soul-mates, not only help us with our mobility and safety, but also give us independence, confidence and an inner peace. So, please, please, consider doing whatever you can to help build our new home away from home, so that in the future we will all have a better place to meet and bond with our new, special partners.
With warmest regards,
Vickie Kennedy and “Angela” & “Freida”-angel
P.S. To donate online follow this link.
I know some of those words are more flowery than I’d write, but still the message is the same. They’re building a spankin’ new dorm, the other dorm went boom, and they need money to build it. If we can spare a wee bit, I’m sure it would be mucho appreciated, and it’s nice to give back to the good folks at GDB. Probably, after I click publish, I’ll hop on over to that there link and set some money on its journey to them.
Hopefully I’ll have more to say sooner rather than later.