The LUU Guide Dogs Society is a fun and welcoming society that brings together like-minded individuals with an interest in raising awareness of the rights of the blind or partially sighted. They work in partnership with The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and regularly host fundraisers and events in order to raise money for their charity. On the 5th of November, the LUU Guide Dogs society hosted a Krispy Kreme Donut Sale in order to raise funds for their charity. However, the best part of the event was undoubtedly the dogs. Members of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association brought three retired guide dogs with them.They regularly host events that feature several dogs, so you can pet a puppy while raising money for charity. It’s a win-win scenario. Towards the end of the fundraiser, The Gryphon interviewed two committee members, Amelia and Darrell.
When and why did you join the society?
Amelia: I started helping out last year, as a Liaison Officer. After half a year of doing that, I decided to officially join the society because I enjoyed it so much.
Darrell: Amelia is also the one of the only committee members from last year. I joined last year as an ordinary member and I would go to the socials and events. I joined the society because I wanted to do voluntary work and because I love dogs.
What is this society’s main objective?
Amelia: Our main objective is to help blind and partially sighted people. We do more than fundraising and voluntary work, we also try to organise socials with blind students. We also organise Sight Guide training for members. This is free, and upon completion you get a certificate to put on your CV, so we try to build the skills of our members as well.
Darrell: The training program is useful because it’s a certified course, so it licenses you to help any blind or partially sighted person you might encounter. The reason we do so much fundraising and charity work is because the cost of one guide dog is £50,000, so we try to help the charity we work with as much as possible.
What is this Krispy Kreme Donut fundraiser for
specifically?
Amelia: It’s to generate funding for the guide dogs, so that the organization can raise them. When they give a guide dog to a blind person, they only have to pay a 50p deposit, and after the guide dog retires, they get their 50p back. So, the cost of getting a guide dog is almost free for the blind or partially sighted, and we help raise funds for the charity so that they can continue to train the guide dogs.
Who would you recommend this society to?
Amelia: Anyone. The greatest appeal of our society is the dogs, but if you want to get involved with volunteering work, help people and make a difference, this society is for you.
Darrell: We definitely do appeal to dog lovers as one demographic. However, most importantly, we’d recommend this society to people who want to volunteer. I also have friends who joined this society to get to know people. Our society is quite diverse: we have a mix of internationals and locals, so you can build a wide range of friendships. We’re also very flexible. You help when you can with our fundraisers – it’s up to you and your schedule and there is no limit to how much volunteering you can do.
Elsa Amri
Image credit: http://www.phoenixfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Guide-Dogs-Puppy.jpg