WHITEWATER, Calif., Feb. 3, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- "Going from a cane to a Guide Dog is like going from a skateboard to a Ferrari!" These are the words of one Guide Dog of the Desert International student who, at the age of 18, was critically burned and blinded in a car accident. He also states that having a dog is what makes the difference between living alone and getting out and living life.
Guide Dogs of the Desert International, a charity that provides guide dogs to the visually impaired free of charge, is facing the threat of closure. Although Guide Dogs of the Desert International is only one of ten guide dog schools in the country, Guide Dogs of the Desert International is the ONLY SCHOOL that accepts the elderly as well as multiple handicapped individuals, providing a level of customized training for each dog unparalleled by any other guide dog institution in the nation. As a result, Guide Dogs of the Desert International serves blind individuals throughout the United States. Individuals with multiple handicaps are referred to us from other Guide Dog schools.
The school is at a serious financial crossroads and may be forced to close permanently within the next 30 days if sufficient financial support cannot be raised from the community.
The cost of operating a guide dog school is exceptionally high -- each guide dog trained and teamed with a client costs upwards of $40,000. Guide Dogs of the Desert International relies solely on private donations -- and current giving levels have not kept pace with increasing costs. For two years the school operated at a loss of approximately $400,000 per year and utilized its reserves as well as credit to continue providing guide dogs to its clients.
The organization took three key steps in the current fiscal year to address its financial challenges: (1) the school trimmed its operating budget by nearly 30% by re-organizing and out-sourcing; (2) the organization launched its first coordinated fund development campaign; and (3) the leadership of the agency detailed a strategic plan expanding the mission of the GDDI to become the first guide dog school in the country to train assistance dogs and cross-trained guide/assistance dogs.
If the school can make it through this crisis, we will have something here in Southern California that does not exist anywhere else in the United States or abroad. For the first time, there will be a place for individuals who are blind as well as neuro-muscularly impaired to receive a canine partner that can serve as both guide and assistant. This has never been done before.
The worst case scenario? There will be no place for the elderly blind or the blind with special needs to receive the personal and customized attention required by their situation.
To ensure the survival and continued viability of the school, $750,000 must be raised. Guide Dogs of the Desert International is appealing to the public-at-large for financial support, and Director of Training Jackie Matthews believes the community will come through: "With so many older individuals facing vision and mobility loss, I know there is a heart for the work we are doing."
Director of Client Services C.J. Daniel knows first-hand the importance of the services offered by the school: "I am fortunate that my sole disability is blindness. If, however, I were to develop MS or osteoarthritis, or if I suffered a stroke, I would have to choose between a guide dog to help me maneuver through this world or an assistance dog to help me with the everyday tasks of living which most of us take for granted. There is no other institution in the country where you can receive a dog trained specifically to do both."
Board President Karen Reynolds puts it more directly: "If this school shuts down, we will be destroying the last hope of self-sufficiency for so many people. Thousands of donors and volunteers have poured their hearts and souls into this extraordinary organization for over 30 years ... I don't believe that they will let us down now."
Renetta Rafferty, who has been instrumental in investigating cases of charity abuses throughout the U.S., emphasizes that the current financial crisis at GDDI is not the result of malfeasance, misappropriation or fraud. "This is the case of a charity not 're-tooling' fast enough to adapt to a dramatically changed fundraising landscape and a rapidly escalating cost of doing business."
The school's Board of Directors has pledged that all donations received in response to this crisis will be held by the school until such time as the total required to insure continued viability is received. "We are not going to take donors' money, pay bills, then turn around and shut the school down," according to Rafferty. "If we do not receive the funding necessary to get through this crisis and initiate a fiscally sound operation, we will return those donation checks."
The Board of Directors has also placed for sale a portion of GDDI's campus which includes two dormitory buildings as well as its auditorium and dining facility. Kappy Tobin-Armstrong of Village Realty in Indian Wells, CA, is handling the listing.
Donations can be directed to Guide Dogs of the Desert, P.O. Box 1692, Palm Springs, CA 92263.
For more information, please contact Karen Reynolds or Joe Hayden at Guide Dogs of the Desert International (760) 329-6257.