Purple and gold balloons with purple and gold flowers festooned to paw-print decorated glass bottles gave testimony to what the Lions District 14U District Rally might be about.

Place mats with pictures of Leader Dogs in action, combined with birthday party hats and party favors, added to the atmosphere at the Mahoning Valley Ambulance Building in Lehighton as Lions and Lionesses from the four-county Lions District 14U gathered.The theme for this annual rally was celebrating the 75th anniversary of the birth of the Lions Leader Dog program, complete with dog biscuit shaped cookies as favors.Special guests were guest speaker Jeffrey Gerhard from the Bath area and his German shepherd Leader Dog Odin.Gerhard is blind. He has had Odin, his third Leader Dog, since January."Dogs are all the same, yet different," said Gerhard, with Odin at his side.Gerhard said he loves that the dogs are available and that such dogs give the blind person more speed in getting around in that dogs are for "obstacle avoidance," rather than a cane, which is for "obstacle finding."The facility where Gerhard and others who are sight-impaired go to get matched with a dog is in Rochester, Michigan."The facility is fantastic," said Gerhard as he told about a dog's training timetable and shared stories of those he met, including a blind married couple who received their respective dogs at the same time this past January. Also present at that time were six students from Spain.Recently Gerhard had a home support traveling instructor come to help him at home to settle an issue with Odin."It is amazing to see the puppies in training," said District Gov. Sharon Kimmel, having visited the Leader Dog facility herself."We can be grateful for Leader Dogs. We have a lot to be thankful for," she said before giving Gerhard her District Governor pin before her own presentation.That included thanks to all involved in planning and her advice to "Smile and the sun will will shine."She read a letter from Lions Immediate Past International President Barry J. Palmer addressed to District 14U's Immediate Past District Gov. Lizanne McElwee in which he lauded her for her year of service.Among those attending were first-timers Cynthia Waters and Joan Hoffman from the Western Pocono Lioness Club."I thought the program was well-done," Waters said.Waters, who sat at the end of the table closest to Gerhard and Odin, said, "I was very impressed with the communication between him and his dog.""Apparently the dog was bothered by loud outbursts of noise. He reached down and touched the dog while speaking to him in soothing tones. The dog is young, so being made to stay in one spot for quite a while got to the dog. He started to whine softly, and again, the soothing tones and touching of the animal did the trick."You could see the dog adores this young man, and I feel comfortable saying the feeling is mutual on his part. Once or twice the dog got up from lying on the floor and wanted to move around. The young man could tell and would get hold of the harness the dog was wearing and indicate where the dog should be and to again lie down. No hesitation on the dog's part."There was "complete trust between the two of them."Hoffman said she was "very impressed," adding that people were very friendly.And Lion Don McConnell, chairman of the event which brought almost 100 people together, agreed."I thought it was a very good rally," he said.