In 1929, Morris Frank, a blind insurance salesman, and Dorothy Harrison Eustis, a dog trainer, cofounded the Seeing Eye to teach the visually impaired to work with guide dogs the nonprofit breeds and trains. Today the pioneering program, in Morristown, New Jersey, is the oldest of its kind in the country. As the Seeing Eye’s new crop of students reports to class this month, we break down its visionary mission by the numbers.
4,600+
Miles that Frank traveled from his home in Nashville to work with Eustis in Switzerland, where she trained police dogs. While crossing the Atlantic via steamship, Frank was classified as a package rather than a passenger to restrict his mobility.
600
Approximate number of families that volunteer to help raise and socialize pups-in-training before they begin official guide instruction.
7,789
Visually impaired graduates of the Seeing Eye program, which welcomes classes of up to 24 to its campus 12 or 13 times each year.
16,745
Human-dog partnerships the Seeing Eye has fostered since 1929. The helpful pooches have been placed in homes in all 50 states.
1
Words in Frank’s telegram to Eustis after his inaugural walk across a hectic New York City street with his guide, Buddy: “Success.”
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
