Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hepner with my co-host Leslie Hoskins and Timothy Kuo. It has been such a busy year
Leslie: already. I know.
Christina: And it's April, I keep thinking it's like the new year just started and you know, the weeks are flying. We just ha found out a big change for my family.
Um, my sister and brother-in-law will be moving to Buffalo, New York. Oh gosh. He, uh, had his match day for, um, medical school and he is going to, I believe it's the University of Buffalo. I could be wrong. Um, but it's surgery, so that's so exciting. Oh my gosh. So they'll be there for a good like five.
Leslie: Or more.
Five years. Yeah. Wow. So
Christina: that's a long time. I have never been to Buffalo, New York though, so I was like, Hey, it's a
Leslie: new place. New place can get some original buffalo. We know you're itching [00:01:00] to travel. This is, I hate news .
Christina: Right? So it's some original Buffalo wing. I know. That's what we were saying. So let's, super exciting.
I think a little bittersweet for everybody. Um, yeah. But yeah, it's gonna. Cool to have a new place. I was kind of hoping they'd, you know, go somewhere warm , but , Hey, I've never been to Buffalo, New
Leslie: York, so that'll be awesome. That'll be really exciting. I won't, and honestly, time flies. Five years will go by super quick.
Yeah.
Christina: And they might stay, who knows if he gets a That's true. If you like that,
Margaret: you know, out there. Okay. So, all right.
Leslie: Yeah. Well, I, uh, just got back again, you know. Yeah. Because I'm all flitting all over the place, but, uh, I just got back from Florida. . Um, my grandmother passed away, which was, yeah. Very sad.
Thank you. She, uh, definitely was my person. Yeah. And I loved her so much, but it was so, I'm so lucky that I was able to be there. My mom and I were there and my uncle and my grandpa, and it was just like [00:02:00] so nice. Yeah. And it seems weird to say, but her, um, golf outing, she loves scoff or loved. And so her women's golf league dedicated the day tour her and they put out the pink flags and everybody wore pink and we hit pink golf balls.
I definitely embarrassed my grandma cuz my golf skills are nothing to ours. hers were. Um, but it was like, it was just absolutely beautiful and I'm so happy that we were there and they honored her in such a beautiful way. So it was a wonderful. Very sad
Christina: trip. Well, and you send, uh, listen I a picture, it looked
It looked like a great way to, on your grandma, you know, it's so hard when losing someone at any point in life, but yeah, it looked like it was, everyone was happy to do. It's such a great thing in her honor.
Leslie: Yes. All of her friends, you know, shared really nice stories about her and, um, at the very end, we all took a golf ball and like hit it into the water and we yelled her name.
I, of course whiffed the first time. So I [00:03:00] was such an embarrassment. But we, I mean, we just laughed and they're gonna have a beautiful plaque made in her honor and it was just a very lovely, lovely way to say goodbye. So I'm super fortunate, but happy to be back home with everybody. Um, Yeah, so that's what I've bet God going on.
Timothy, what's new with
Christina: you?
Maragaret: Oh man. I had a boring weekend. All I did was sit around the house. Me and GLA went for a walk of course. And uh, uh, just took it easy this weekend. Um, had some, you know, procedures and stuff done lately and just wanted to take re chill for a weekend. So that's what we
Christina: basically did see.
Those are always good weekends though. Yeah. Little downtime.
Leslie: Yeah. That's good. Gearing up. We got lots coming up in the next couple months, so that's, that's good. All right. Well, today our guest is a leader dog volunteer who has dedicated so much of her life to volunteering at Leader
Christina: Dog. Yes, Margaret Gobel has been an incredible volunteer at Leader Dogs for the Blind for nearly 40 years, and she served in numerous capacities [00:04:00] and she's almost 70 years old.
And besides being a leader, dog volunteer is a wonderful mother and grand. And she currently lives with retired leader dog mom Edith, and a silly and funny career change. Bryce, I hope I said that one right.
Maragaret: Margaret, it's great to have you on this podcast and without volunteers before leader, dog leader Dog would not be where they are today.
So thank you for being a volunteer. So 40 years, do you remember what brought you to Leader Dog? Oh, I absolutely do. Um, my children are three years apart and they. Four and seven or five and eight, something like that. I think my daughter was about five, I'm pretty sure. And um, my son was in Cub Scouts. I guess that's so far away.
I almost don't remember what it's called anymore . But anyway, Michael was in Cub Scouts and she must have been, she was in nursery school, so they were walking in the Memorial Day Parade in May. That's right. Memorial Day Parade.
Margaret: Yep. . Okay. In [00:05:00] May. And we had to pull
Maragaret: in Dexter. We lived. Ann Arbor, but had a Dexter.
We were sent to extra schools and um, so we were going to the middle school to drop Michael off to walk in the parade. And I think she must have been walking with the nursery school too. And as we pulled into the parking lot of the middle school to drop the kids off, I saw about half a dozen people, at least with these beautiful dogs.
And I. Said to my husband, oh, stop the car. Stop the car. I have to go see these dogs and see what this is about. And he of course rolled his eyes because it's like, here we go again, more dogs. So I got out of the car, he went and dropped the kids off and then we met up. Somehow he came back or whatever. Um, I'm surprised, but he didn't come back.
And um, yeah, he loved dogs too. I'm a little over the top sometimes. So I started to talk to these people and they were with the Ann Arbor Leader Dog Puppy Club, and they had established the, the club about five years at least beforehand. So the club had been going for about [00:06:00] five years. And so I talked to them for a few minutes and I spoke with the lady who was the leader of the group at the time.
Her name was Greta Stabler. And, um, , I was just enamored with these beautiful dogs, and they were cute puppies and oh, it was just the best. So after speaking with Greta, I said to her, you know, I think I could do this. Um, and she said, all right. So I gave her all my information and she came out and visited.
And three weeks later I had this beautiful little black lab puppy. And, um, my favorite movie in the world is The Sound of Music. So I named the dog Liesel. Mm-hmm. after one of the daughter. I like to have a purpose for my names for my dogs. So I know I named my, named her Liesel after the daughter in the Sound of Music.
Liesel then ended up going to lead dog school and becoming a leader dog. But what's funny about this, at that time, about 40 years ago, we never got to meet the blind people until my seventh dog was ready to graduate. So, but I was at school when [00:07:00] Liesel was actually being trained with her blind person.
Leader dog. I said, could I just look at her because this was my first one when I, when I signed up for this, I forgot. You have to give them back . So of course, like every person who raises for a year is really hard to turn the puppy in, but um, or the dog at that point. And so, . They said, well, yeah, she's with her partner right now.
We'll let you meet the dog and the person. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. I don't want, I don't wanna upset the dog and have to see her, leave me, leave her again, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, no, no. It should be okay. I'll be okay. So here's what's funny about the story. I met this lady, little old lady. She was like 70 something at the time, early seventies.
Uhhuh .
Margaret: Her name was Margaret, just like me. Oh my gosh. And we both have. March 9th birthdays. Oh my God. Wow. Yeah. So
Maragaret: it blew me away that she has my dog that's in quote, yeah. Quotes, . She has my [00:08:00] dog and her name is Margaret. And. We had the same birthday,
Margaret: so that's so, and I did just turn 70. I am 70. You are 70.
Not almost. I am 70. You're, you're 70. So
Maragaret: that was the beginning. That was my beginning of doing
Margaret: this. I love that. Oh
Leslie: yeah. It's so interesting how people come into puppy raising. Yeah. It's so many like random things. Mm-hmm. Out in the public that happen. And then you become a lifelong volunteer. Do you mind telling us, you know, the different capacities and roles in which you've had throughout the years?
Margaret: Well, I started out as a
Maragaret: puppy razor, and I've raised. 18
Margaret: puppies and some Margaret. Oh, there's people of raised 20 and 30. I, it didn't, 40 didn't, didn't say to me, but I would take breaks
Maragaret: sometimes. Like after my seventh one, I just, I took a few years off cuz my heart just, I couldn't do it anymore. Mm-hmm.
Um, so after my seventh one, but then, um, There were reasons I would start doing it again. Uh, like a, a good friend who, one of the other leaders of the people who started the club, her name was Wilma and she was blonde and [00:09:00] she also, besides raising, she was what they now call a host family. So, uh, Wilma passed away and Wilma was just, she was a lions, the time they were lion is, they weren't lions, she was a lioness.
She raised leader dog, puppies. I mean, this was just a super busy volunteer type person. So I said, and I had. Two yellow labs from her yellow lab. Mom, dog. Oh, oh. And um, so I thought after she died, I have to raise another yellow lab and I have to name it Wilma. Yep. Oh. So that got me back into it, and then it just draws you in.
I mean, once you're in, it draws you back. So then I continued raising for several years. and, um, I just, like I say, I just kept raising puppies and, and, uh, being involved and going up there and we used to our club, the Ann Arbor Club, we would go up there.
Margaret: Um, every month and we would be, we would
Maragaret: mail out the Christmas cards to, to all the blind people and to the razors.[00:10:00]
And then in the springtime we did some gardening there. I'm not much of a gardener, but you know, I can put flour on the ground. . Yeah, . So we, so, but we would go up every month and we would do something and they'd serve as, we'd be there all, all day and gre. The old, older lady, she had a big camper and so we, several volunteers from Ann Arbor would get the dogs and our kids.
If you had kids, we'd all get in this camper van, go to Lit Dog and spend the whole day there volunteering. It was just, oh my gosh. So
Margaret: much fun. We had a great time. Yeah. So I did that and then, um,
Maragaret: when my 18th, my puppy. Let me, let me go back a little bit. Bryce, my black lab, my silly girl who's nine years old, I turned Bryce in to become a leader dog.
It was in November and in uh, January my husband was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. So then meanwhile, Bryce was career changed and um, Bryce was, uh, An exuberant girl, let's put it that way. . And, um, I know we [00:11:00] made up pictures, a picture book from my husband in the hospital from a lot of people, and one of the last pictures is a picture of me with Bracy saying she's coming back.
Yeah. Oh, because she was so exuberant. She's coming back. This was like funny. Yeah. And um, so Bryce came back, but she and my other dog had an, another dog also. Um, stayed with friends because I was gone to St. Joe's Hospital every day for almost two months. Yeah, because he was so sick. Six months later he did pass away.
And so then I said, I just, I, I got Bracy back and I had three dogs at that time and I thought, mm-hmm I just can't raise another puppy. It's just too much for me on my own. So then finally about two years later, I relented. I said, I can't take this . I can't do, I gotta raise another puppy. So I was up there, well, no, let me go back.
I was up there in December at the gift shop, which they have a wonderful gift shop. Yeah. Uhhuh . So I was, Christmas presents. I
Margaret: was up there and as I, when I walked in
Maragaret: to the building in that big glass case where there's puppies [00:12:00] there, I walked over to look at the puppies and talk to them, and this one puppy walked right over to me, and the others could have cared less.
I was there, but this one was very interested in me. Yeah. So I'm like, oh my God, you're. You're pulling me
Margaret: in. You're pulling me in.
Maragaret: But I hadn't filled out the paperwork. So Bev Ferguson walked into the building Uhhuh a few minutes later and I said, oh, Bev, that puppy wants me and I want that puppy. She said, well, do you have your paperwork in?
I says, well, no, I don't. She said, well, you're gonna have to fill in your paperwork. So I went. I said, well, let me think about it. She said, oh, come on. I says, uh, I don't know. I'm just not sure. And so I went home and of course, by the time I got home, I knew I was gonna fill in the paperwork. Yeah, of course.
So I filled in the paperwork, but that particular puppy, of course, was gone by the time. , it was already a assigned to somebody. Yeah. But there was just a connection between this part and she was a, um, a yellow lab and, um, So I got my paperwork in, and then within a very short time, I was notified that there was a puppy for me.
So I was watching Downton Abbey at that time, like say I like [00:13:00] reasons for the dog's name. So I decided I was, I, I pri I asked for a yellow lap because I wanted to name it Edith after Lady. Edith? Yes. On Downton Abbey. Because I always felt for Lady, lady Edith. We had a little connection I felt for her. I love that show, but it turned out well for Lady Edith.
So I thought, I'm gonna get a yellow lab and I'm gonna name it. And also at the point, at that time, I think, no, that wasn't have been, it was when I was getting bracey, I had all yellow dogs and I didn't want a black lab. And I ended up with a black lab because the razor's daughter who not, and the host family daughter and I were very close because I'd raised a black lap from a prior litter from, oh my, this particular dog, Reese was her name.
And, but I was talked into taking this exuberant black lab. Mm-hmm. , so I blamed my husband and and, and this young lady named Julia, who's currently applying for
Margaret: medical schools. Oh,
Maragaret: that's awesome. Um, anyway, uh, it's, so I, anyway, I want to yell up, but ended up with Bracy and Bracy is, [00:14:00] It's been a little bit of challenge
Margaret: all of her life.
Yeah, she's delightful. You would love her of course, but you're the only person in her life and she's the only person in your life when you meet. Yes. . So now, so let's go on to Edith.
Maragaret: So Edith, I get off track sometimes. That's easy. I'm
Margaret: 70, that's my excuse. . So, , I pick up Edith and I, I need this lovely, and she's a
Maragaret: lab Golden Cross.
And I turn Edith in and about a week later I get this phone call saying, uh, this is Dana from the breeding department. I said, , oh, Dana, I
Margaret: don't want to talk to you. . You don't wanna, nobody wants that call. Cause I know. Yeah, yeah. And she says, well, you have to talk to me. I says, Nope, don't have talk. She says, yes, you do.
Maragaret: So Edith came home as a mom, dog.
Christina: See, I will tell you, Dana is very convincing. Yeah. She convinced me one time. Mm. to take home one of the leader dog moms just for a little bit while she was waiting for her forever home. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So she is very convincing to hide. [00:15:00]
Margaret: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yeah.
Maragaret: Yeah. So . Okay, so I
Margaret: went in and picked Edith up.
Yeah. And home she came and, uh, 10 months later she
Maragaret: went into heat. And um, two months later we had, I was told she was having eight puppies. She had 10 puppies. Oh my God. Now I remember. I'm a widow. I am
Margaret: by myself. Yeah, that's a
Maragaret: lot. And two other dogs. Two big dogs plus Edith. Oh my gosh.
Margaret: So my kids ha tried are good
Maragaret: helpers.
Yeah. But you know, at that time my daughter works from home now. Yeah. But my son, you know, he
Margaret: lives in Ann Arbor about
Maragaret: an hour away from me because we moved north to help out with our only grandchild. Mm-hmm. . Um, and then my husband died after he had this brilliant idea that we leave Ann Arbor and head up to help them
So, Edith had 10 puppies, and so I was basically on my own with
Margaret: that. Yeah. And then
Maragaret: Edith's, next letter, she gave birth to
Margaret: 13. Oh my gosh. Oh man. One was
Maragaret: still born. Oh, so 12. That's so tough. [00:16:00] Then she
Margaret: gave birth to another 13. Oh my gosh. Which 11
Maragaret: were viable puppies? Two passed away. I
Margaret: mean, that's a lot of puppies.
That's a lot of puppies. Yes. For mom. And then her final
Maragaret: litter, she had two. Oh, oh wow.
Margaret: Yeah. So you know, she was fertile
Maragaret: myrtle. I don't know why. Yeah. Yeah. So now that. Um, that considers me being a host family and I am telling you it's the greatest thing. It was a lot of work, but there's nothing like it.
Yeah. When she fir and she popped out the puppies quickly and easily, and one of the, I'm sitting there cuz of course, especially the first litter, I've got a. I take all the furniture outta my dining room. Yeah. I move a twin bed in there. Well, my kids move a twin bed in there so I can sleep next to the welling box.
Yeah. So I can be there if anything's going wrong or whatever. Yeah. So anyway, um, she pops the puppies, you know, uh, really with, uh, any. Issue. She just pops 'em up. But I have to say that first all the [00:17:00] litters, but I just sat there in awe. It truly was a miracle. Yeah. Gonna make me cry and I don't cry. It truly was a miracle to watch these puppies being born and this dog knowing instinctively how to be a good
Margaret: mom.
What to do. Yeah.
Maragaret: It was just, Oh my goodness. And, and then as they get, they grow, I mean, they sleep for, by the first three weeks and well, after about 10 days, those eyes, 12 days, those eyes and ears start to open and they get on the little legs and they real wobbly. And it's too, Die for. Yeah, it absolutely is.
It's just the most wonderful experience anybody can ever have. I highly advise if you're thinking about it to do it because it's, it's like watching a miracle. It was just wonderful. So she had her fourth letter, so she has been spayed, she's done with that. Mm-hmm. , as I said, I'm 70. I can't I do that anymore if I had a husband or one of my kids were living with me or.[00:18:00]
they did help as much as they could. Yeah. But they have lives that they had to go to. So anyway, I would, I would definitely, if I had someone else in the home, I would definitely take on another mom dog. Yeah. Um, I'm not gonna raise any. And, uh, and oh, and when I was raising those 18 puppies, four of those puppies I co raised with that lady named Greta, I mentioned initially, was an much older woman, so she.
I did all the work with the dogs. Mm-hmm. cuz she was much older, but she housed the dog. Okay. And, and her name was on the application. Yeah. So she was the razor and she'd been involved doing stuff like that for so many years. It was only right that she gets to do something like
Margaret: that. That's a nice
Maragaret: partnership.
Yeah. Beautiful. That was very nice. And then, like I say, after Edith, uh, I, you know, I said I just can't, I can't do this anymore cause I can't do it on my own and I can't raise anymore because, If it fails, if it career changes, then it will come home to me. and I have enough animals and my kids have their own animals, , and people want my dogs.
It's not [00:19:00] an issue, but my kids will take the dogs before anybody. Yeah, so I don't want to put even more. Dogs on them because I, I don't know if I'm gonna live another 12 years, the life of a, a Labrador retriever. I just don't know. But anyway, that, so after that, I, um, so meanwhile I joined the Lions Club, the
Margaret: Flushing Lions Club.
Maragaret: Very nice. I rice. Advise anybody, um, join the Lions Club because I thought my association with Leader Dog was kinda over with Yeah. When Edith was done, and I know Lions are associated with Leader Dog and they support them. They're great supporters of Leader Dog. So I thought, well, I'll join the Lions Club.
So join the Lions Club and um, And I've just been made membership director this year, so I'm really pushing anybody out there lives in,
Margaret: anybody out there lives in the Flushing area, please come join the Lions Club, . We do a lot of great stuff for the community and do fun stuff, and I highly recommend it.
And
Maragaret: then, um, I was told several months ago, about a year ago, actually, by Bev again, Bev. [00:20:00]
Margaret: Been together
Leslie: forever. She's lovely. We just had Bev and VJ on and they shared so much information.
Margaret: They're lovely. Well, Bev, I've been
Maragaret: since
Margaret: Bev started there. Oh yeah. I mean, I was there before Bev. Oh my goodness. I've known
Maragaret: Bev her whole career at Leader Dog, so she and I are close.
Yeah. And so, and she's the one actually that picked out is, that's another thing she. She assigned Edith to me. , she knew Yeah, that Edith might become a mom. At least I accuse her of that . So, so like I say, have a great association with Bev and, um, Bev told me that they were, they were forming. A new volunteer position and she thought that I would be perfect for this.
Oh, plus I'm a puppy counselor, not too. Yeah. So Bev um, said I would be perfect for this, and then I said, well, I can't do it right now cause I have these puppies coming. I'm just, I need a little bit of time off, blah, blah. I said, no, no, I won't be ready for a while. So there's a new position called a. Puppy pickup specialist.
Margaret: Yes, I've heard about this. Oh my God. Is the best ever. So [00:21:00] I have a three hour shift on a Friday Uhhuh. There's about seven, seven or eight of us. Yeah. That we have three hour shifts on three. Cool. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yeah. And I
picked,
Maragaret: uh, the 1130 to two 30 because then if there's ice on the roads, they'll be salted in the winter before I have to head to liter dog.
Yeah. And, and then the afternoon rush. , I'll get outta
Margaret: there. Yes. So that's perfect. And sure enough, they gave
Maragaret: me that time slot that was very nice that they gave me the time slot. I requested they, they ask you what you want. So I said that's what I wanted. And so now, uh, Fridays from 1130 to two 30, I have the best three hours of my life because I get to go in there and.
Going to the sacred sanctum of where the puppies are. Yes.
Margaret: We talk
Leslie: about that all the time. Not everybody gets access to that.
Margaret: Nope. I have access to that first. You're one lucky ladies.
Maragaret: I know. I get to give them to their person. Yeah. I get to hang out with them. I get to play
Margaret: with them.
Maragaret: I get to help feed them.
Oh my God. And they just, their little tails, I mean, their [00:22:00] tails go a mile a minute. That is just, Best volunteer
Margaret: job. That
Christina: work. Yeah. You get that job of
Leslie: that lovely people are
Christina: excited to see you. Mm-hmm. cause they're picking up their puppy to raise. Yes. And you get to like see the puppy. Exactly. You know when it is all fresh and clean and ready.
Mm-hmm. . I initially I wanted that. When I heard about that volunteer position, I was like, whoa, I've been, didn't work a full-time job there ,
Maragaret: I. . Well, they should release you for three hours a week for Oh,
Margaret: yes. .
Leslie: We'll talk to our boss. Thank you. I talk to your boss.
Christina: Oh,
Margaret: I would love that. Yeah. So anyway, that's, and, and, um, then, uh, out
Maragaret: in, in the Genesee County Leader Dog Puppy group, um, Kristen Shiley, who is the chairman.
Maybe that's the wrong word of our Flushing lines club. She is a puppy counselor and I told her, I said, Kristen, anything you need, I'll be, cuz she was nurse. She really, she's really, really busy. Yeah. And she works full-time and she has. Family that she has to help out with and all that. She's got a [00:23:00] lot going on, but she, uh, had been asked to be a puppy counselor.
I had been asked to be a puppy counselor a long, long time ago when they first started doing it, and I said, Nope, not for me. I'm not a teacher. I'm would, I'm not good at telling you Yeah. What to do and how to do it. I'm just, it's not me. Um, but Kristen, Said she would be a puppy counselor. I said, well, Kristen, if you're, if you really wanna do that, I said, I'll be your right hand man.
I said, I'll be gladly assist you in anything you need. Well, for me to do that, I have to become a puppy counselor, .
Margaret: So now I'm a
Maragaret: puppy counselor, but I do things like, I send out the newsletter and I help find places to have meetings and yeah, she, she really takes the lead on this. She is, yeah, she is. She is the lead.
Uh, but
Margaret: I'm sure that's a huge help, but, well,
Leslie: yeah. Yeah. Well, it's always nice to split the work like Christine and I with the podcast. I couldn't, neither one of us could do it alone.
Margaret: It's, well, her thing she said was, it's
Maragaret: hard. The hardest thing for her is the newsletter.
Margaret: Yeah. Well, the newsletter, it's,
Maragaret: there's not much to the newsletter.
Um, and there's so [00:24:00] many other groups in our area that have, like the other week, one of the groups had. It was Bar Lynn's group had a meeting at the, the, the planetarium, the Long Way planetarium in Flint. And so our group could go to that if they wanted to. So there's other things that our group can go to.
So there's a lot of stuff that goes on that we ho we hold two meetings a month. Yeah. Um, between us, we just, she. We just don't have time to do a whole lot more than that. But
Margaret: it
Christina: is so nice, um, that there is such a community when you probably raise mm-hmm. , you're not by yourself, you're really in that community.
Exactly. The counselors. Exactly. You have exactly the
Margaret: group. Well, we do thi Kristen
Maragaret: does things too, like popup meetings, social, she senate meeting. I, Hey, we're gonna go to the liberty for lunch tomorrow. Who can join? Whoever can come come. So people will come with their leader dogs. So we get to see them at those little pop-up meetings.
That's nice. So those are really nice. . Yeah. So,
Leslie: so you've had a, a life of [00:25:00] just giving and volunteering. So much work with Leader Dog now with the Lions on top of it. That's what A spectacular
Margaret: life. Oh, I joined the Lions, like I say, I thought
Maragaret: my le my, my association with Leader Dog was over. Yeah.
Margaret: Um, and I'm glad I did because it's fun.
It's really nice and it's a wonderful group of people and, and we do
Maragaret: fun things and, and you know, the. We have kids come to our meetings who are, we have two girls right now that we donated, we gave money to. Um, they came and gave a little speech because they're going over to Italy. They're high schoolers this summer on an exchange type.
Program or Yeah. Cool.
Margaret: That type of thing. And so they're raising,
Maragaret: they're trying to raise like $3,000 each for their flight and everything else. So they have to pay for, so our Lions Club gave them, I think we gave them like $500 each. Something like
Margaret: that. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, towards what they're trying to raise, they're selling
Maragaret: candy bars.
Well, of course they sold a lot of candy bars at the meeting.
Margaret: A lot of candy bars were sold that night. They were a lot more eaten and a lot were
Maragaret: taken home. So they're. We give [00:26:00] thing like Boy Scouts will come and they want to go to a Boy Scout camp, so we donate money to them for that. Yeah, that's
Margaret: awesome.
They do the Bear Lake camp for I think, yeah. Lions Bear Lake camp up in the here.
Maragaret: So we, we support that. That's
Margaret: a wonderful program. We support the community, like
Maragaret: they did a big, uh, mural on the wall in downtown Flushing. Yeah, we donated some money towards that, so
Margaret: that's really awesome. The wines are really great.
Maragaret: And, um, as far as volunteering, I'm a great believer in volunteerism. I don't care what you do. Doesn't matter. Do it because it helps somebody. Yeah. And, um, I found some dogs. I mean, I found something
Margaret: that's easy to love.
Christina: Yeah. Yeah. Is there any, um, you know, we're getting close to the end of our time, but is there any last things you would tell anyone who might be on the fence of, you know, being a puppy raiser or a breeding host?
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. , is there anything you could tell 'em that maybe might help them? Decision.
Margaret: The main
Maragaret: plus to doing this is okay. The puppies are a big plus. There's no doubt in the [00:27:00] dogs and the camaraderie and the, and with the people that are raising and all this stuff, and especially now that people can talk to each other on Facebook and you can talk to the, the, the host family.
The who has your mom dog that of your dog. Yes. I mean, it's great that way, but you're really changing somebody's. , and I say this all the time, and I don't mean it to sound the way it sounds cuz I think it sounds big-headed and conceited, and I really don't mean this, but for the 13 people out of my 17 Edith is number 18, Edith has donated 35 puppies.
God knows how many people are gonna be helped by that. Mm-hmm. . But prior to that, of those first 17 p. , I have positively changed my dogs and I have positively changed the lives of 13 people. That's amazing. And if you can do that, God bless you. I mean, when I die, I will be happy to know that I have contributed.
Contributed a world. Like I [00:28:00] say, I hate the way that sounds cuz it No, I think sounds conceited and I don't mean it to be that way. I just want people to feel the same
Margaret: way.
Leslie: I think that's beautiful. It's about the mission, right? It's about empowering people who are blind or visually impaired for independent travel.
And that's what you're doing by puppy raising. Yes. Or hosting a mom dog. Yeah. Is you're helping people be unstoppable. Um, so I think that's lovely.
Margaret: And by the grace of God Go, you go me. I
Maragaret: mean mm-hmm. , I was just telling you earlier, I have a friend who lost an eye in a horrible accident. And as really, he doesn't need a liter dog.
He uses a cane, but he has one good eye, so he doesn't need that. But it, but his life has been changed drastically. Mm-hmm. by this. So if you lose your eyesight or you're born blind, um, it's got to be so difficult. So anything that anybody can do to help in that. Please do it. Please raise a puppy. You will get so much out of what you'll learn about how to train dogs.
So if your own dog too, [00:29:00] if you know, if you don't know a lot about training dogs, please do it because there's a lot of help lead a dog, gives you a lot of help doing that, so that's wonderful. Please raise a puppy. Please get a host mom because. . You just won't believe what it's like when those puppies are born.
And then they move around and they're Oh, and they love you and they love to dance with you. And they love it when you sing to them. I'm a horrible singer, but my dogs all love my singing and so, and my dancing. So it's a great party we have with puppies, this big puppy party every
Leslie: day. Well, thank you Margaret, for joining us today and sharing your wonderful years of experience.
We really appreciate
Margaret: it. Oh,
Maragaret: you're welcome. And I, like I say, I just have. Every minute of this. 40 years. Mm-hmm. . So that's
Margaret: great. Thank you very much.
Leslie: Thank you. And thank you to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy cuo and Christina Heppner. We hope you enjoyed hearing about the important work that Margaret has done throughout the years and is continuing to do.
Please join us next week as we continue to dive into the world of [00:30:00] blindness. And if you'd like
Christina: to learn more about applying to our free services or volunteering at Leader. You can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332. And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas.
If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever Podcast Stream. This season of the Taking the Lead podcast is brought to you by a longtime supporter of Leader Dog, the Mary p DL Halleran found. As
Leslie: you may know, generous donors like this one make it possible to achieve our mission.
The
Christina: Mary p Doci Halleran Foundation supports the study of mathematics and mathematics education. For more
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