All expenses, including room and board, airfare, training and equipment, and the guide dog itself, are offered free of charge.

Breeding dogs donated from the general public that are of fitting physical and mental character are also occasionally accepted.

In the summer of 1938, the Uptown Detroit Lions Club members gathered to discuss the future of Dr. Glenn Wheeler, a blind man who had shown interest in obtaining a personal guide dog.

They decided to pay all of the expenses for the man and contacted the only school in America at the time for guide dogs, The Seeing Eye.

However, the Lions Club members did find individual trainers of dogs, including one in particular named Glen Staines, who trained Doberman Pinschers.

After hearing about the cause, the Park Avenue Hotel in downtown Detroit offered free accommodations for the students learning to work with their dogs.

To find a suitable name, a four-page report was sent out to every single member of Lions Clubs International.

Despite many hardships, the school stayed open and was helped tremendously by the number of blind veterans returning from World War II.