In this live‑streamed mission, Pilots to Rescue pilot Michael Schneider flies from Raleigh Executive Jetport in North Carolina back to New Jersey, transporting a guide‑dog puppy named Jada for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. The flight, aided by a 35‑knot tailwind, takes about two hours outbound and three hours on the return, dramatically cutting the travel time compared with the usual two‑day volunteer drive. Carrie Lemreis of Guiding Eyes explains that the faster, less stressful air transport allows Jada to begin her summer stay with a local puppy raiser, then move to a finishing raiser in New York for a year‑plus of training before being matched, free of charge, with a blind or visually impaired graduate. Jackie, Director of Partnerships for The Doggust, describes the organization’s philanthropic Doggust Fund, which supports nonprofits like Guiding Eyes as part of its working‑dog pillar. The segment also notes that Pilots to Rescue’s aircraft has returned to service after maintenance, enabling the mission. Overall, the video highlights the collaborative effort among aviation volunteers, guide‑dog organizations, and charitable partners to streamline guide‑dog delivery and reduce animal stress while providing free services to beneficiaries.
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We're in North Carolina. We're at Raleigh Executive Jetport, about a 2-hour flight from Essex County, New Jersey. We had about a 35-knot tailwind, which is really nice, but you know what happens when we go back. So it's gonna be about 2 hours down here and about 3 hours coming back. Today we're doing a transport with one of our partners, Guiding Eyes, and we transported Jada, who you'll see here in a minute.. And we're also doing this in conjunction with the Doggists. Doggists is a great, great site, and we have Jackie also to talk a little bit about what they do. So let's head on over to Carrie with Guiding Eyes and Jackie with the Doggists, and they're going to talk a little bit about the flight today and Jada.
I almost said good morning. I think it might be afternoon. Yeah, put it on where it goes.
Hey, tell everybody where you are and who you got here.
This is Jada. I am Carrie Lemreis from Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Oops, she's gonna try to eat that. We are delivering Jada to her volunteer puppy raiser who's gonna get her off to a great start for one of our blind or visually impaired graduates.
Amazing. And how was the flight?
The flight was great. She was fantastic. She kept looking out the window, keeping track of our progress. I think she already knows that she's headed off to do great things.
And what did this flight mean to Guiding Eyes as an organization? Station, how did it help you? How would this normally, this transport normally be done?
So normally we would rely on one of our volunteers to take their time to drive from North Carolina all the way up to our facilities in New York, and which is basically a 2-day trip by the time you go up and come back. And I would say even with your down and back being 5 hours, you've cut our trip probably into a third and given her the chance to get started sooner than later and with a much more relaxing trip than a super long car ride. So thank you for that.
Yeah, far less stress on the animal, right?
Absolutely, and on us for sure.
Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us.
Thank you.
And here we have Jackie. Why don't you tell everybody who you are and who you're with?
Hi, I am Jackie. I am the Director of Partnerships for The Doggust. Uh, we're super excited to be joining Michael and Guiding Eyes today for this trip. Um, The Doggust has a philanthropic giving component, uh, The Doggust Fund, where we raise money to support nonprofits in the in the areas of rescue, rehabilitation, and working dogs. So for the 2022 year, um, Guiding Eyes is our recipient for our working dog pillar. Um, so we'll be raising money all year to support the incredible work that they do.
There she is.
And how was the flight for you, Jackie?
The flight was great. I was able to snuggle Jada. I had my, my emotional support, so it was, it was great.
Smooth sailing.
Beautiful puppy. So the puppy will be down here for how long, Carrie, you said?
So she's gonna stay for the summer down here before she goes up to one of our finishing raisers in New York State to get the rest of her training. She'll be with a puppy raiser for about a year, maybe a year and a half total, and then she'll come in to do harness training and go off to work with someone who's blind or visually impaired.
Right, and you offer these dogs up, you match them with their vision impaired people free of charge?
We do, and it's because we have such great volunteers like our puppy raisers and help from organizations like yours. We don't have to charge anything. For our graduates to get their dogs and to receive follow-up training and services.
Wow, that's an amazing, uh, give to a deserving individual.
Absolutely, and we couldn't do it without you, so thank you.
Yeah, happy to do it. Great, awesome. All right, I'll take that back from you. Sign off here.
Thank you.
All right, so quick trip down to Raleigh today, and we're gonna head back up. We got about a 3-hour trip back. To New Jersey. I want to thank everybody for supporting Pilots to Rescue, really appreciate it. And we got the plane back, it was down for a couple weeks for maintenance, so we're really thrilled that she's back up in the air running, and we'll see you on the next rescue. Thank you.
