WDF raises £100,000 for guide dogs

Nicole Mezzasalma

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The amount raised by the retailer will support a guide dog for life and sponsor the training of 12 other puppies for 18 months

UK travel retailer World Duty Free (WDF) has raised £100,000 ($198,500) for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association as part of its 10-year anniversary celebrations. The company collected £95,000 ($188,600) and WDF managing director Mark Riches personally contributed additional funds to round up the figure.

The retailer had originally planned to raise £35,000 ($69,500), enough to support a guide dog for life, as part of the charity’s Diamond Dogs scheme. However, the additional funds will allow Guide Dogs to finance the initial 18-month training period for 12 more puppies.

Guide Dogs corporate fundraiser Jessica Stickland said: “We are stunned by the generosity of World Duty Free and we are very grateful for their support. It costs £10 ($19) per day to breed, train and support each guide dog partnership, and as we receive no government funding the money WDF has raised will make a big difference to blind and partially-sighted people all over the UK.”

Riches added: “We greatly admire the work Guide Dogs does and, as such, the team at WDF went above and beyond the call of duty to overachieve on our target of raising £35,000 for the charity.”