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Frank O’Meara of the Irish Guide Dogs, Shanballymore NS Principal Michael O’Sullivan and students with a cheque for €150 for the charity.

Earlier this year, the students of Shanballymore NS raised €150 for the Irish Guide Dogs from their green day fundraiser ahead of St Patrick's Day and recently they learned all about what that donation will do, as guide dog Gilly and Frank O'Meara paid a visit to the school.

The students heard from Frank how the dogs help people who are blind or vision impaired, as well as helping families of children with autism. 

He explained that they look at breeds and temperment when choosing dogs for people and take the utmost care when matching dogs to families or individuals and the training starts when the dogs are very young.

"To help the children understand the training process Frank compared each stage of training to the various levels of education. Beginning with pre-school training, progressing to primary level, secondary level and finally the advanced training stage," Principal Michael O'Sullivan explained.

He added that throughout the entire presentation Gilly sat obediently beside Frank and at the end, the children got to see Gilly perform different taks and tricks, as they asked Frank questions about the organisation. 

"This worthy organisation costs over €4 million to run annually and as 80% of this income is sought through fundraising and voluntary donations, it was only fitting that a donation was made on the day.

"This hands on experience and wonderful presentation will stay with the children for a long time to come and hopefully they will appreciate how some people are dependent on these dogs to give them a better quality of life," Michael O'Sullivan told The Avondhu. 

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