Hearing Dogs For Deaf People celebrates tenth birthday
Hearing Dogs For Deaf People New Zealand is celebrating 10 years as a charitable trust. The trust was formed in 1998.
All dogs are trained at the National Training Centre which opened seven years ago, in a pleasant rural setting a few kilometres from New Plymouth.
As well as kennel and office facilities, there is a cottage for recipients to use while they are at the centre learning how to work with their dog.
At present four dogs are in training at the centre and a number of pups are in socialisation prior to starting their formal education.
It takes around four months to train each dog to respond to various household sounds including the doorbell, cooker timer, telephone and fax, a family member calling the recipient's name, and the smoke alarm, before they are matched up with a deaf or severely hearing-impaired recipient.
As well as alerting their recipient to these sounds, the dogs become devoted companions, helping to ease the isolation that being deaf can bring.
National director of services Clare McLaughlin says the trust has plenty to celebrate.
"We have grown into a professional and supportive trust with 51 hearing dogs placed throughout New Zealand. The dogs have become wonderful tools for enabling their recipients and enriching their lives."
The trust is grateful for the generous support of many people and groups in the community as it receives no Government funding.
Recipients are not charged for the dogs and the organisation is funded entirely by donations, sponsorships, street collections and other fund-raising.
Trustee Jim Shepherd, Inglewood, says the organisation receives some wonderful support.
"A couple in Auckland who were celebrating significant birthdays asked their friends and families to make a donation to Hearing Dogs for Deaf People instead of buying them presents. We got a cheque for $6500."
The ASB Bank has sponsored three dogs to be given to recipients in the Auckland regions, while the Taranaki Electricity Trust has sponsored two dogs for Taranaki people.
The organisation is also assisted tremendously by volunteers. Some help with fund-raising, others with walking and socialising the dogs, some help maintain the training centre and grounds, while others skilled at public speaking help inform the community. Mr Shepherd answered a call in his local newspaper for volunteers 18 months ago, and was later invited to join the board.
He is available to speak to groups about the work of hearing dogs, and he can arrange for speakers in other areas of the country.
For more information or to arrange an interview and/or photographs, contact director of services Clare McLaughlin on (06) 769 5000 or clare@hearingdogs.org.nz.
The Grocery Charity Ball
Started in 2004, The Grocery Charity Ball Trust has been established to run the premier event on the grocery industry social calendar, and direct the profits to charitable trusts in New Zealand.
The Trustees of the Grocery Charity Ball have chosen Hearing Dogs for Deaf People New Zealand to be one the Beneficiaries of the 2008 Grocery Charity Ball.
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