THE FIDELCO GUIDE DOG FOUNDATION, INC.
103 Old Iron Ore Road, Bloomfield, Conn. 06002
www.fidelco.org

NEWS RELEASE               

For Immediate Release   

Date: January 13, 2011 

Contact: Jack Hayward                      
860-243-4800                                              

 

BLINDED AIR FORCE AIRMAN RECEIVES GERMAN SHEPHERD

GUIDE DOG FROM THE FIDELCO GUIDE DOG FOUNDATION, INC.

 

Air Force Senior Michael J. Malarsie Completes In-community Placement

in Los Lunas, NM

 

 

              Bloomfield, Conn.--The Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, Inc. (Fidelco) has placed “Xxon” (Ex-on), a German Shepherd Guide Dog with blinded Air Force Airman Michael Malarsie. On January 3rd of 2010, Malarsie was seriously wounded and blinded by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Four of his fellow soldiers were killed in the blast. One year after his injuries, he is regaining the freedom and independence that was lost on the battlefield.

           Malarsie recently completed in-community placement with Xxon in the Albuquerque area after being training with Becky Cook, a Fidelco-certified guide dog trainer/instructor and senior placement specialist. The training lasted approximately three weeks and allowed Malarsie to learn to work with his new guide dog partner in his home community.

Newman’s Own Foundation, the nonprofit organization started by actor and philanthropist Paul Newman, provided funding for the placement. Each guide dog costs Fidelco approximately $45,000 to breed, train, place and maintain for its average 10-year service life. Fidelco provides guide dogs to its clients at no cost.

          “We are fortunate to be able to help two genuine heroes; Michael and Jessie, his wife, get on with their lives. They truly deserve best that America and Fidelco can offer,” said Eliot D. Russman, CEO and Executive Director of the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, Inc. “And we are especially grateful to Newman’s Own for their generous support of our efforts to place Fidelco German Shepherd Guide Dogs with military personnel who have lost their vision.”

In June of 2010, Fidelco placed Guide Dog “Legend” with Tech Sgt. C. Matthew Slaydon USAF (retired), a veteran of “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” who was blinded as he tried to disarm an improvised explosive device in Kirkuk, Iraq. Slaydon was instrumental in bringing Malarsie and Fidelco together.

          The Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Bloomfield, Conn., breeds, trains and places its own, unique type of German Shepherd Guide Dogs with people who have visual disabilities. It pioneered In-community Placement in the United States; a process that allows guide dog users to be trained in the communities where they live and work. Fidelco relies solely on the gifts and the generosity of individuals, foundations, corporations and civic organizations that partner with us to “Share the Vision.”

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