Great Cause Please Help!

[Ron Davidson]

Good day everyone as many of you know I travel with use of a guide dog. I have had him for about a year now and I would be at a great loss without his help.You have no idea of the independence these dogs give you I don't have enough words to explain all they do for us. Now I am asking for your help. I don't know how many of you are aware of the cost it takes to train one of these dogs but it is roughly 40,000 for each dog then there is the expense of training the dog to match up with the student. The training time is 26 days and none of this cost is passed on to the students including transportation getting there.The schooling does not stop there they follow up on you for the duration that you have the dog with assistance if you incounter problems. There are 12 students in each class ind they have a new class each month. The school does not receive any funding from the state or federal government and is solely a nonprofit organization. In the first part of October I will be travelling to New York to participate in a 10K walkathon to raise money for the school. The name of the school is Guiding Eyes For the Blind and is located in upstate NY. My goal is to raise as much money as possible to take with me to contribute. The money will be donated under your name as well as mine and is tax deductable. Each graduate is awarded for the amount they raise.I also have raffle tickets that are 2.00 ea or a book of 6 for 10.00. If you wish to contrubute to this very worthy cause or if you want to join me up there as a walking partner I would be glad to have you. For further information Please Pm me and I will either give you a call or send you information. THANK YOU in advance for your help.
Ron & Lou and of course Jennie
Raffle prizes are.1st Diamond Journey Pendant from Zales
2nd Diamond Solitare earrings from Zales
3rd $250.00 Travel Voucher from Travel Network
4th $250.00 Travel Voucher from Travel Network
5thFuji Hybrid Bicycle from Yorktown Cycle
6th Digital Camera from Fuji
All prizes are listed on raffle ticket.

In your Pm give me an email address and I will send the link to donate on line at a secure site.

[BobD]

Great Cause, Ron! Thanks for posting this!

Just an FYI for everyone else: Ron PMed me to ask permission before posting this. I felt it was a worthwhile cause, so I told him to go ahead.

If anyone else has causes like this, give me a shout. I just don't want this to get out of hand!

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Bob....how about donating carvings and posting them on ebay like was done once before, if I remember right, there are no ebay fees when the proceeds go to charity...and this one seems very worthwhile!

[BobD]

Hi Dave,
I think it's a good idea, but I just don't have time right not to organize it. I'm sure you've all seen the ancillary books we're putting out under the WCI name (the CCA Carvers Showcase and Santa Showcase)...we're putting two out for WCI and two out for SSW...so I am totally swamped.

You are all more than welcome to organize something, though! Maybe set it up like the Nickle Mine benefit we did here on the board...

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Just a thought, as I told Ron, I have too many things going on right now too...

[Rare Decoys]

Great idea...........will check this out from Ebay-how it works an all.

[Ron Davidson]

Just a reminder only two weeks left until I go to NY for the walkathon. If interested in donating to a good cause pm me for details. Thanks for your support.
Ron

[Eddy-Smiles]

Ron... I should have spoken up earlier but I had my head up my you know what! Perhaps there are folks out there like us that don't do internet purchasing or donations. How about providing us with an address so that those that want to can send a donation directly. I need another raffle ticket like I need another knife but we do love dogs and the schools that train them for the blind so I'd be willing to send the price of a raffle ticket or two with no expectations of geting anything in return.

[Ron Davidson]

The only reason I ws going through my email was I would be sure to get the donations put in my name. I know it all goes to the same place but if I raise enough my trip is paid for and that's allot being on a fixed income. But here is the site if you wish to donate. www.guidingeyes.org If you donate there should be a place to enter my name and be sure to say I am the one from Wichita Ks. Yes there is more than one of me. I had allot of people say they donated like Lou's puppy raisers and it never showed up on my site. Go to ways to help and click on Walkathon and there is a donate to the 07 walkathon link. Thanks for your support.
Ron

[Eddy-Smiles]

Ron...

I don't know if this helps but for those like me that do not donate electronically here is a sample letter that they can send with a donation with your name on it so that you do get the credit.

I'm leaving town but I will be sure to get mine in the mail before I leave.

Best of luck to you! I hope that you get enough people donating so as you can make the trip.