Employee Sponsorship Benefits Guide Dogs of America

Lockheed Federal Credit Union Provides Opportunity for Giving to the Community

Lockheed Federal Credit Union (LFCU) employees made a “Promise” in 2007, by collecting donations to sponsor a puppy with Guide Dogs of America (GDA). Promise, a female black Labrador Retriever, just turned 7 months old, and according to her puppy raiser, is showing great potential to become a guide dog for someone who is visually impaired. LFCU employees also raised enough money to also sponsor a student.

The idea to work with GDA in these ways came from Lisa Perez, Internal Consultant at LFCU.

“We collected donations via our Employee Charitable Contributions Program for Guide Dogs of America, and I thought it would be a nice gesture to sponsor a puppy,” Perez said. “Our employees are extremely generous and we look forward to hearing about where Promise lands.”

The puppy sponsorship dollars cover the cost of breeding, medical costs, locator microchip, food, puppy bib, adult jacket, obedience classes, necessary supplies, plus periodic evaluations by the puppy and training departments.

Debbie Sands, Sponsor Program Coordinator at GDA, said puppy sponsorships are critical to successful, on-going fund-raising for the organization since it does not receive any state or federal funding.

“We are grateful to the employees at Lockheed Federal Credit Union for being so involved with our puppy program,” Sands said.

At about seven weeks of age, the puppies are placed with pre-screened, volunteer foster families who provide the care that is necessary for the development of the future guide dogs. These families raise the puppies until they are 18 to 22 months old, giving them basic obedience skills, and most important of all, love and the opportunity to be socialized. Each dog wears a yellow jacket, identifying its mission.

After this time, the dog is returned to GDA for evaluation. If it meets the criteria they look for, such as good health and even temperament, the dog continues with formal guide dog training at the GDA facility for 6 months.

If a dog moves forward and successfully completes its training course, the dog will “graduate,” and become a guide dog for someone who is visually impaired, aged 16 and older.

Guide Dogs of America, an International Guiding Eyes program, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing guide dogs to qualified visually impaired individuals. For more information, visit www.guidedogsofamerica.com.