Guide Dogs for the Blind to celebrate official proclamation with milestone graduation

Guide Dogs for the Blind is celebrating a tail-wagging milestone: the 500th graduation at the Boring Campus. And the community is invited to attend the heartwarming ceremony (though be warned, tissues are recommended).

The graduation will run from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, with tours of the amazing campus at 32901 S.E. Kelso Road, in Boring, to follow.

The event will be filled with fun: graduating guide dog teams will proudly take the stage; there will be a guide dog training demonstration; several eight-week-old puppies will meet their volunteer puppy raisers for the first time; and Guide Dogs for the Blind CEO/President Chris Benninger will read a proclamation from Gresham Mayor Travis Stovall that declares Aug. 24 Guide Dogs for the Blind Graduation Day.

Guide Dogs for the Blind does not charge clients for being paired with a dog, and operates without government dollars. Instead the nonprofit organization relies solely on donations and a robust volunteer system to support the visually impaired. In more than 80 years, the group has completed more than 16,000 pairings.

The Boring campus is a special place to visit. It is sprawling, with all sorts of buildings dedicated to training and caring for the dogs. There are residential spaces for the clients — when paired with a dog they stay on campus to learn all the techniques of navigating the world with a pup at your side. There is also an obstacle course.

And anyone in East Multnomah County will be intimately aware of the nonprofit organization. The dogs are often in Downtown Gresham training with handlers, including going into Guide Dog partner businesses.

To learn more about the organization, visit guidedogs.com