Cheryl + Raven

Cheryl’s hold on the sighted world was slipping in the early 1990’s when she attended a Guiding Eyes for the Blind fundraiser and met staff and graduates.  It was then and there she decided to apply for a guide dog.  And so began a relationship that would change her life. 

February 2019 marked a significant milestone in that relationship-- Cheryl celebrated her 25th anniversary with Guiding Eyes and her new partnership with Raven, her fifth guide dog.  At graduation, Cheryl recalled a snowy February in 1994 when she came to campus for her first guide, Pearl, and met her roommate Mary, who become a lifelong friend.  “I was apprehensive on the drive to Yorktown, but once I was here, I didn’t want to go home. I was safe.  Guiding Eyes nurtured me, loved me, and supported me.”

Cheryl’s approach to life’s adversities gave her the resilience to overcome them. “I kept growing and finding ways to reinvent myself,” she says.  Cheryl went back to school for a bachelor’s degree in counseling and then was ordained a minister, but she didn’t stop there.  As an author of children’s books and an advocate of literacy, she travels to schools for speaking engagements and workshops. Through her storybooks which feature the adventures of Cindy Lou and her guide dog Sammy, she promotes an age-appropriate understanding of vision loss.

Cheryl’s journey was influenced by her gratitude for Guiding Eyes and the guide dogs who gave her independence and confidence. She is a proud ambassador who speaks about our mission in a very personal way.  She and her husband raised a puppy, which only increased their appreciation for the commitment of our volunteer puppy raisers. 

Cheryl’s desire to find a meaningful, lasting way to give back led her and her husband to remember Guiding Eyes in their wills and to join the Pathfinder Society. “I want future students to have the benefit of a guide dog.  It’s about giving back as much as I can -- even after I am no longer here.”