Who would have ever
guessed that a chance encounter 3 years ago on the Blinddogs e-mail site would
bring together a New York City Special Education Teacher and an author
from Alaska (a former New Yorker from Astoria, Queens)?
As Mike Dillingham
and I exchanged stories about our blind dogs, Rivers and my Dalmatian
Asia, (who is now at the Rainbow Bridge) we never imagined the impact Rivers
would have on my Special Needs class.
I test read Mike's
first book to my class and they immediately fell in love with Rivers. Through Rivers’ bravery and courage in spite
of his handicap, my class made a connection.
They found faith in themselves to succeed using Rivers as their role
model. They wrote letters to Rivers who
wrote back to them.
Through Mike's and
his wife Mary’s generosity, (they sent them books, buttons, maps, videos and
weekly updates from Rivers) my class was motivated and inspired to work
hard. I did many literacy lessons using
Rivers, his book, and the Iditarod as a theme.
Guess what happened... their reading and writing improved as well as
their outlook. The kids wanted to give back to Rivers so one year they
did a Bake Sale to raise money for Rivers’ former musher. The next year they did the same for the IMOM
group (who helped Rivers get his surgery).
They raised over $600 for sick animals whose owners could not afford
medical care for them.
Rivers has touched their lives and hearts tremendously. They will always bring a piece of him with them for the rest of their lives. Mike and Rivers made that happen for them.