They call it puppy love: this award-winning CCRC set out to sponsor a guide dog--and ended up sponsoring four.

The concept of using animals as therapeutic aids for residents has been around for many years. The benefits of residents playing with puppies, kittens, and even pet rabbits have been well documented over the years. The residents of Freedom village, a CCRC in Bradenton, Florida, have decided to "give back" to the animals in their own unique way: by sponsoring a puppy to be trained as a guide dog through the Southeastern Guide Dogs Association.

Southeastern Guide Dogs is one of nine schools in the United States that train puppies to become guide dogs, then place the dogs with the blind and visually impaired, free of charge. The organization receives no state, local, or other government funding; hence, Freedom Village was even more eager to help. "We have been involved with them for many years," explains Freedom Village's Director of Wellness and Community Relations Lothar Sachse. "At one time we also had an employee who had raised a guide dog here; she brought the dog to work and was affiliated with Southeastern Guide Dogs, as well. There have also been some residents in the past who had donated money on their own. So the relationship was there."

That relationship continued to grow when Freedom Village residents began to volunteer as "puppy huggers." While obviously not a difficult job, puppy hugging is vital to acclimate the puppies to all types of people and situations that they might encounter in their future jobs as guide dogs. In mid-2002, Freedom Village decided to take the next step and started the Paws for Independence fund-raising campaign.

"We decided we wanted to participate in Make A Difference Day, which takes place in late October every year, and is sponsored by USA Weekend," says Sachse. "We put a committee of residents together and discussed what we were going to do and how to go about it, and decided that we wanted to adopt a dog. The cost of sponsoring one guide dog was $1,500, for which you get to name the dog and follow its progress as it grows up and goes through training."

The 12 member committee started to plan special events designed to generate interest--and donations--for the program. "We have a very creative activities department--now called our Lifestyle Department--and they came up with a wonderful way to raise funds," says Sachse. "They contacted a company that makes stuffed dogs, all different sizes, and came up with the idea that for a donation, you would get one of the stuffed dogs. For instance, with a $5 or $10 donation you would get a small dog, for $25, a larger dog, and so forth. I think the most expensive was $100, for which you received a pretty good sized retriever!"

In August 2002, Paws for Independence was launched at Freedom Village at a special "Puppy Preview Tea," organized so residents could meet the newborn puppy for the first time. As part of this event, residents could make $1 donations in exchange to suggest a name for the puppy--a sort of naming raffle. After the resident committee reviewed the entries, the puppy--a black lab-was named "Scout," and the proceeds were split between the winner of the contest and Southeastern Guide Dogs.

In September 2002, Freedom Village threw a "puppy shower" for Scout, donating more than $1,500 worth of toys, food, and other items. Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston appeared at the event, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush sent an autographed harness for Scout. All the while, the fund-raising goal of $1,500 was in sight for the deadline Freedom Village had set for itself, October 26.

When the big day rolled around, Freedom Village held another event--Hot Dog Day. Conceived as a thank-you for the residents' generosity, the event included more than 250 residents, Southeastern Guide Dogs representatives and, of course, puppies, dining on hot dogs and/or similarly themed treats. Residents who had donated to the program received their stuffed dogs, and Southeastern Guide Dogs was presented with a larger-than-expected check. "We started out with a goal of sponsoring just one dog, but we recognized that, with the way that it was going, we would have more money," explains Sachse. "So we just let the project go its own way and raised enough to sponsor three dogs, about $4,500."

Freedom Village recently presented Southeastern Guide Dogs with a check for a fourth dog, who will soon join Scout, Velvet, and Taffy as Freedom Village-sponsored guide dogs in training. In addition, Freedom Village was presented with AAHSA's Community Service Award in recognition of the Paws for Independence program at the AAHSA National Conference in Denver on October 29, 2003.

According to Sachse, the program will continue indefinitely because of its success: "I think it's a wonderful program, and the creative minds on our activities team really went all-out. Residents who no longer have dogs of their own still have the opportunity to see these dogs grow up and to follow their stories, and just get out there and play with them for a day. We've also had testimonials from vision-impaired people who have gotten dogs from Southeastern Guide Dogs, so we know that we are really making a difference in their lives, as well. We look forward to continuing this program."

For more information on the Paws for Independence program at Freedom Village, contact Lothar Sachse [e-mail]. For more information on Southeastern Guide Dogs, visit www.guidedogs. org. To comment on this article, send an e-mail to hutlock1203@ nursinghomesmagazine.com.