[GDU] Mira USA

[Judy Burch]

Very interesting.

 

Judy

 


>MIRA FOUNDATION
>MiRA Foundation USA is a national nonprofit based in Aberdeen, NC. 
>It is unique in that it is the only organization in the United 
>States dedicated to providing guide dogs to blind children and youth 
>between the ages of 11-17, and they do so at no charge to the recipient.
>
>MIRA was founded in 2009 by Robert and Elaine Baillie after Bob 
>became totally blind following complications from coronary bypass 
>surgery. Although he initially felt great despair at the sudden turn 
>of events in his life, close friends convinced Bob to travel to MIRA 
>Canada where he was paired with his magnificent Bernese Mountain 
>guide dog, Devon. Both Bob and Elaine quickly realized that Devon 
>was the key to Bob's adaptation to life with his new challenges, and 
>they decided that they wanted to provide this opportunity to the 
>underserved population of blind children and youth.
>
>Today, two years after its inception, MIRA USA is a young but vital 
>organization that can be very proud of the work they have 
>accomplished. In 2010, in only the first full year of operation, 
>MIRA paired two dogs with students: one an eleven year old girl from 
>the San Diego, CA area, and the other a young man from Durham, NC 
>who is now a student at Stanford University. The girl became the 
>youngest person in the US to ever have received a guide dog, and 
>just over a year later she and her dog are thriving. She is an 
>honors student, speaks three languages, plays three musical 
>instruments, and has won gold medals in mathematics and braille 
>competitions. Even better, she is remarkably well adjusted and 
>confident with her dog. In fact, both students are thriving.
>
>Although MIRA USA is a separate legal entity from MIRA CA, we work 
>together in very close partnership, since our dogs and our students 
>are trained on the MIRA CA campus, and we benefit from the thirty 
>year history MIRA CA has with training guide and service dogs, 
>including twenty of those years as the only organization in the 
>world dedicated to training guide dogs for children. In the last 
>twenty years they have paired approximately 200 students with dogs 
>and have never had a rejection. This is a tribute to MIRA CA's 
>careful breeding, selection and training of dogs, as well as their 
>meticulous assessment and training of student candidates. MIRA's 
>global reputation is undisputed and well earned.
>
>The staff at MIRA USA is not only responsible for searching out 
>potential MIRA guide dog recipients, but also ensuring that all 
>paperwork is completed and assembled on time, scheduling and 
>overseeing assessments and follow up visits, and of course, raising 
>the necessary funds to make the pairings possible. Our signature 
>fundraising event, Dining in the Dark, is a semi-formal dinner that 
>is held in a country club environment where the diners don 
>blindfolds from the time they sit down to the main course until 
>dessert is served. MIRA has held this event two successive years in 
>the Sandhills, and once in Raleigh, with events scheduled for the 
>Spring of 2012 in the Sandhills, Raleigh, and Charlotte. Dining in 
>the Dark is not only a revealing event, it has also proven to be fun 
>as people gain awareness about the challenges of chasing cherry 
>tomatoes around a salad plate or simply getting food to their mouths 
>without dropping it everywhere when they cannot see what they are doing.
>
>In July of 2011, MIRA USA sent six students to Canada for training 
>in preparation for receiving a guide dog. Two of the students were 
>from the Sandhills area of NC, two from Raleigh, one from 
>Fayetteville, and one from Aiken, SC. All six students passed the 
>month long session with flying colors, working eight hours per day, 
>six days per week to master the necessary skills to navigate safely 
>and confidently with their canine partners. Since their return home, 
>the students have had one follow up training session at their home 
>base with a MIRA trainer and will soon undergo a second session. As 
>safety is the paramount concern for both student and dog, MIRA does 
>not cut any corners in assuring that every pair develops a strong 
>working partnership. To this end, MIRA will conduct as many follow 
>up sessions as necessary; however, this rarely exceeds three.
>
>The staff at MIRA USA is not only responsible for searching out 
>potential MIRA guide dog recipients, but also ensuring that all 
>paperwork is completed and assembled on time, scheduling and 
>overseeing assessments and follow up visits, and of course, raising 
>the necessary funds to make the pairings possible. Our signature 
>fundraising event, Dining in the Dark, is a semi-formal dinner that 
>is held in a country club environment where the diners don 
>blindfolds from the time they sit down to the main course until 
>dessert is served. MIRA has held this event two successive years in 
>the Sandhills, and once in Raleigh, with events scheduled for the 
>Spring of 2012 in the Sandhills, Raleigh, and Charlotte. Dining in 
>the Dark is not only a revealing event, it has also proven to be fun 
>as people gain awareness about the challenges of chasing cherry 
>tomatoes around a salad plate or simply getting food to their mouths 
>without dropping it everywhere when they cannot see what they are doing.
>Future plans for MIRA USA include the establishment of a training 
>center in Moore County which will serve as a facility for training 
>guide dogs and the students being paired with them, as well as a 
>center for all blind and severely visually impaired to access 
>resources such as an audio library, appropriate job training, social 
>activities, and whatever other needs are identified. Obviously, the 
>establishment of such a center will be dictated once again by 
>funding, either through a generous individual or corporation, or 
>some other committed entity. MIRA believes, however, from our own 
>research and the feedback from professionals in the field of blind 
>assistance that this facility represents a very real need in the area.
>
>Finally, MIRA will continue to educate the general population about 
>the challenges faced by the blind and the ways in which a guide dog 
>assists in mitigating those challenges. Over the last two years, Bob 
>and Devon have addressed over two thousand Moore County fourth 
>graders in partnership with the Moore County Pet responsibility 
>group. While Pet Responsibility teaches children to advocate for 
>their pets, MIRA teaches them about the ways in which a guide dog 
>advocates for its owner. They have also spoken to dozens of civic, 
>church, and general groups seeking to learn more about the blind and 
>guide dogs. It is a never ending challenge, but one that Bob, and 
>MIRA , takes very seriously.

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