UPPER WEST SIDE — A longtime Upper West Side hardware store is working to raise $15,000 to benefit a nonprofit group that provides guide dogs for the blind.
Beacon Paint & Hardware on Amsterdam Avenue and West 78th Street, is on track to meet their fundraising goal for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a nonprofit that breeds and trains guide dogs for the blind and service dogs for autistic children.
The store's annual fundraising drive for the charity ends with a community walk on Saturday. Walkers take an easy 1.8 mile jaunt twice around the American Museum of Natural History. If that's too strenuous, you can skip the walk and donate to Guiding Eyes online.
Last year's effort collected more than $12,000 for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, "every penny" of which went directly to the nonprofit, said Beacon Hardware co-owner Bruce Stark.
The hardware store has hosted charity walks for 12 years. Until two years ago, the walks benefited a charity for a rare children's skin disease. Stark switched to supporting Guiding Eyes for the Blind because he has a personal connection to the organization.
One of his sisters, Marcia, who went blind at age 2, owned two guide dogs trained by Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Marcia died at age 27 from skin cancer.
"It was always something that was near and dear to me, so it was a natural charity to go," Stark said.
Training guide dogs is expensive — it takes roughly $45,000 to raise and train a dog and match it with a client, said Guiding Eyes for the Blind Marketing Manager Michelle Brier. The organization also provides lifetime follow-up support free of charge to clients, who live across the United States and in foreign countries.
The nonprofit, based in upstate Yorktown Heights, was founded in 1954 and has provided more than 7,000 guide and service dogs. Guiding Eyes doesn't receive government funding, so it relies on donations from private sources like Beacon, Brier said.
"We really wouldn’t be able to do what we do without friends like Bruce," Brier said. "We feel lucky that they’ve taken us under our wing."
Stark has won support from other local businesses — the new Eastern Mountain Sports on Broadway and West 76th Street chipped in a $500 sponsorship and raffle prizes. Neighborhood restaurants Chirping Chicken, Levain Bakery, Bagels & Co. and Pizza by La Grolla donated food for the walk.
Stark says his best individual donor is 12-year-old Betsey Klueber, who lives down the street from Beacon. Starting at age seven, Klueber has collected about $1,000 a year toward Beacon's charity efforts. She's one of dozens of kids who participate in the walk, which Stark talks up at school assemblies at P.S. 87, P.S. 452 and the Computer School.
"Once the kids know about it, they drag the parents," Stark said. "The response has been terrific. They love to be involved in it. And they get to stay up late that night."
The community walk, which starts at 7 p.m. at the I.S. 44 school yard on Columbus Avenue and West 77th Street, also features a dog fashion show, free food and a raffle. Kids who participate in the walk will get a surprise gift.
The charity walk is one of several community activities that Beacon, which has been in business more than 100 years, organizes. The store also donates paint to local schools and hosts a graffiti cleaning event. Learn more about the Guiding Eyes for the Blind walk on Beacon's website.
