19 November 2007
Guide dogs charity receives £10,000 windfall from Saffron Building Society
Presenting the £10,000 cheque to Guide Dogs for the Blind are Saffron Building Society chief executive Andy Golding (centre) and Society company secretary Sara Andrews (front, kneeling). Receiving the cheque is Jacqui Chapman of Guide Dogs for the Blind. Also in the picture are Jonathan Pannaman, corporate fundraiser for guide dogs for the blind in Essex with trainee guide dog Chloe (left) Paul Atkins and his guide dog Roza and guide dog puppy Lacey.
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association will soon be training two new dogs in the Herts and Essex area thanks to a little help from Saffron Building Society.
The charity has been selected to receive a donation of £10,000 from the Society's charitable giving programme for 2007.
Applications for the donation were invited from charities in Essex, Herts and Suffolk and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association was selected as the 2007 winner from hundreds of applicants.
The money will fund two new guide dogs - Saffi and Ronni - named after Saffron Building Society.
Jacqui Chapman, corporate relationships account manager at Guide Dogs for the Blind, explained: "Having a guide dog can transform the life of a blind or partially sighted person. As a charity that receives no Government funding we rely heavily on corporate and private donations and are delighted that Saffron Building Society has given us this funding for two dogs.
"We breed most of our own guide dogs so we can have a good idea of their intelligence and temperament and Saffi and Ronnie will be among the next guide dogs to be born.
"When they are six weeks old they will be placed with a walker for a year who will make sure they are exposed to all sorts of environments and other dogs. This will be in the Essex or Herts area, so it's likely that they will be able to pop in to visit at some of Saffron's branches.
"After that they will move on to one of our training centres and ultimately be matched with a suitable blind or partially sighted partner."
Andy Golding, the chief executive of Saffron Building Society commented: "Our charitable donations programme has proved very successful over the years and we try to ensure that we support causes that can make an impact on people's lives.
"We were delighted to be able to help fund two local guide dogs as this is a very good cause which makes a significant difference to people's quality of life."
