Whats More Democrat-Like Than Helping Others?

When she was 11 years old, my now-almost-30 year old daughter Jennifer asked me over breakfast one morning,"Dad, what's the difference between a Republican and a Democrat?"

Without blinking I told her that "Republicans care about money; Democrats care about people." Jennifer replied "That's what I thought, Dad," and we went on to discussing something else.

That 19 year old conversation with my oldest flaming progressive daughter (the youngest daughter is a flaming progressive also - good genetics at work) came to my mind on a recent afternoon when my friend Suzy Smythe in New England sent me this link for NEADS - Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans. (My guess is they would get a dog for a Canadian who needed one also).

NEADS of Princeton, MA, is a non-profit organization established in 1976 to train and provide rescued dogs and donated puppies to assist people who are deaf or physically disabled in leading more independent lives at work, at home and at school. These assistance dogs become an extension of their owners and bring security, freedom, independence and relief from social isolation to their human partners.

Each morning when I get off the subway at the Ballston Metro stop in suburban Virginia I see a young woman who is confined to a wheel chair. She is waiting at the top of the elevator with her Service dog, a Golden Retriever. At first I thought hers was a seeing eye dog but through her I learned about Service dogs.

Service Dogs are trained to assist people who are physically disabled. Service Dog teams have public access rights under the ADA. They are trained to retrieve things that drop, portable telephones, or items from shelves and other hard-to-reach places; open refrigerator and other doors; push elevator buttons; turn light switches on and off; carry items in their mouths or backpacks; pull wheelchairs up ramps or short distances; go get help should their partner need human assistance. Most of the Service Dogs that NEADS trains are donated as puppies by breeders throughout the country and raised by volunteer foster families before returning to NEADS for 6-months of skill training. Trainers then match them with qualified applicants. Those who are eligible to receive a Service Dog must spend two weeks at the NEADS campus in Princeton, MA, and learn how to work as a team with their new dog.

Two of my colleagues (both progressives - do you see a pattern here?) are active in training Service dogs to help others and have done so for many years. At first I thought it was rather strange seeing dogs roaming around in a Federal office building, but then when I learned their purpose it seemed like a logical thing to do.

Luckily there are many Service dog organizations in the country, however, this one near Worcester, Massachusetts, really caught my attention after Suzy sent me information about it and I wanted to pass on that information to readers of this blog. There are several ways you can volunteer your time to help advance the objectives of NEADS. If you are out of the area you can also donate funds to keep NEADS involved in helping others. I just donated $25.00 and it was totally painless.

So, this weekend, after you have returned from watching the first showings of Michael Moore's fantabulous movie "Sicko" go to NEADS website, scope it out, and offer them some help. Its the progressive thing to do.