Guide Dogs Scheme

Opportunity to join the My Guide scheme

Would you like to make a real practical difference to someone living with sight loss? Would you like to be instrumental in helping someone to participate more fully in their local community and work towards greater independence?

The charity Guide Dogs are currently seeking volunteers to do just that as part of their ground breaking My Guide scheme. My Guide is a service provided by Guide Dogs to support people who are living with sight loss to get out and about, to do the things they want to do. The role involves providing sighted guide assistance on Hayling Island.

We currently have people living with sight loss waiting and they would really like to build up confidence in getting out and about with the overall aim of being able to go out independently.

This exciting and fulfilling volunteering opportunity would suit someone who likes to get out and about and could spare two to three hours a week. Full My Guide training and ongoing support and supervision are provided. Volunteers must be 18+ and would require a DBS check.

To find out more about how you could help towards a person living with sight loss getting more out life, contact Hazel Kelly, Volunteering Consultant on 0118 983 8892 or at hazel.kelly@guidedogs.org.uk

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For more information on Guide Dogs, visit www.guidedogs.org.uk or for an interview, contact our Southampton Mobility Team office at 0118 372 7428 or Southampton@guidedogs.org.uk

Notes for editors:

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is a charitable organisation founded in 1934.

The ability to get around is vital to live a full life yet thousands of people who are blind or partially sighted never leave home alone. Guide Dogs empowers visually impaired people to do that and relies on the support of the public to fund its services.

We breed and train guide dogs which provide life changing mobility and there are currently 5,000 working guide dog partnerships in the UK. It costs £5 per day to support each working guide dog partnership. The full lifetime cost of a guide dog from birth to retirement is around £50,000.

We also provide a range of mobility and other rehabilitation services such as white cane training as well as campaigning passionately to break down barriers – both physical and legal – to enable blind and partially sighted people to get around on their own.