The Elliot Lake Lions Club will host its Walk for Guide Dogs next month as the service club raises money for the national K-9 Vision Canada program.
Organizer Robert J. Kerr told members of Elliot Lake Council that it costs $25,000 to train each guide dog at the Oakville training centre. There is no government funding involved so the Lions club has organized 330 fund raising events across Canada this year to raise money.
The walk starts at noon at Pet Valu Elliot Lake on Oakland Boulevard on Sunday, May 27. Pet Valu is the prime corporate sponsor for K-9 Vision Canada. Registration for the walk will begin at 10 a.m. on the 27th. Pledge forms are available at Pet Valu.
K-9 Vision Canada has long trained Guide Dogs to assist people with disabilities and has started a new program to train dogs to assist autistic children, the K-9 Vision program, hearing ear dogs, diabetes alert animals, service dogs for people in wheelchairs and seizure response dogs. Over the past 32 years, K-9 Vision Canada and the Lions Club have raised $15 million.
Walkers and their dogs will trek north on the sidewalks along Highway 108 from the Pet Valu plaza north to the Miners Memorial adjacent to Hillside Drive South.