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Guide dogs to lead the way at benefit
Friday, October 15, 1999 By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Guide dogs and their human companions will walk a few extra miles Sunday to benefit a radio program for the blind.
As many as 20 dogs are expected to participate from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday in the second annual Guide Dogs Lead To Reading walkathon. The event, at the Carnegie Mellon University track, Forbes Avenue, Oakland, raises money for a radio program in which volunteers read newspapers and magazines to blind or vision-impaired listeners.
Last year, about 10 guide dogs and their blind partners walked and raised more than $4,500. One of them was Drifter, a golden retriever who holds the distinction of being the first dog in the United States to receive double-certification as a guide dog and service dog.
Drifter was trained by the Michigan-based Paws With A Cause to work with Sue Lichtenfels of Shadyside. She has been blind since birth and has been in a wheelchair for the last six years because of injuries received in an automobile accident.
Lichtenfels, 26, and Drifter, 3 1/2 , have been together since June 1998.
Lichtenfels is former program director at Radio Information Service, the South Side-based program for blind listeners. She now works at Pittsburgh Vision Services while working toward a master's degree at Carlow College.
"Last year we did eight laps," which is two miles, Lichtenfels said. Drifter was the only guide dog pulling a wheelchair. "We had three or four sponsors last year. We hope to have more this year."
After the event, the guide dogs are released from their work harnesses.
"The dogs socialized with each other and spectators. It was a pleasant day for them," Lichtenfels said.
The walkathon's beneficiary, Radio Information Service, "is not in danger of going under but we are always on the edge financially," said David Noble, general manager.
The agency has three full-time employees, one part-timer and more than 250 volunteers. About 6,500 people listen to the broadcasts, which are available 24 hours a day.
The Sunday fund-raiser will include a demonstration by the Three Rivers Mountain Dog Club. Club members' Bernese mountain dogs will be pulling carts, which is one of the things for which they were bred.
Registration for the walkathon is at 8:30 a.m. The walk begins at 9 a.m. For more information or to pledge money for Drifter or any of the other guide dogs, call 412-488-3944.
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