Guide Dogs Queensland held a milestone event on Friday to celebrate the completion of the concrete slab, which forms the foundations of a new vet clinic and signals the next stage of the project’s construction.
The event recognised the contribution of Hand Heart Pocket the Charity of Freemasons Queensland, who last year provided a $230,000 Significant Grant towards the construction of the life-changing vet clinic project at Guide Dogs Queensland’s Bald Hills site. Members of Redcliffe First Settlement Masonic Lodge were also in attendance at the milestone event having supported Guide Dogs Queensland at a grassroots level over many years.
The new vet clinic will enable Guide Dogs to provide all healthcare to their dogs on site, which will reduce health risks and cut external veterinary expenses by more than half. These savings will make it possible to train an additional 24 dogs over the next five years, giving more people with low or no vision the chance to be matched with a life-changing Guide Dog.
Guide Dogs Vet Dion Humbler took Hand Heart Pocket and sponsors on a tour of the site, using chalk drawings to indicate what will soon be transformed from a slab of concrete into the first vet clinic at Guide Dogs.
After the tour, guests had to opportunity to enjoy a refreshing morning tea in the newly opened Memorial Garden.
This is just the first of many milestones to come – with the team at Bootooloo construction working alongside McNab to keep the project on track for its grand opening in early 2020.
Photo: Hand Heart Pocket Chief Executive Officer Gary Mark, Redcliffe First Settlement Masonic Lodge members Graeme Lawrence, Ron Hasling and John Browne with their wives Barbara Lawrence, Barbara Hasling and Margaret Browne alongside Guide Dogs Queensland Vet Dion Humbler.
