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Keywords: israel guide dog center for the blind | 
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![[Guide Dog Center for the Blind flag]](../images/i/il_gdcb.jpg) image located by William 
Garrison, 2 May 2022
 image located by William 
Garrison, 2 May 2022
See also:
The Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, IGDCB
(מרכז ישראלי לכלבי נחיה לעיוורים),
was co-founded by Noach Braun. As a 20-something former IDF 
paratrooper, Noach pursued a career that combined his love of animals and 
helping people After working with the Israel Nature Preservation Society for a 
few years, he discovered that there was no school in Israel that trained guide 
dogs for blind and vision impaired Israelis. He traveled to the United States in 
hopes of learning to be a guide dog trainer and to establish a school in Israel.
Noach appealed to numerous organizations and institutions in the U.S. to help 
him become a guide dog trainer, but his requests fell upon deaf ears. His search 
for help eventually led him to the Israeli Consul in New York who in turn 
referred him to Norman Leventhal, a businessman and activist in the Jewish 
community. The two met at the home of the Leventhal family in Pennsylvania on 
the first night of Hanukah in 1986. Norman was immediately drawn to Noach's 
vision of establishing a guide dog school in Israel, and paved the way for Noach 
to study to become a guide dog trainer. At the same time Noach's wife Orna began 
studying dog breeding. After they completed their studies in the United States 
Noach and Orna traveled to Great Britain, where they completed their studies. 
In 1991 they returned to Israel to establish the Israel Guide Dog Center. 
Together with Chaim Tsur of Jerusalem and Tillie, a yellow Labrador Retriever, 
they were the first to graduate on 5, 1991.
The center began operating 
from a rented house in Kfar Yedidiah, a moshav near Netanya. Two dogs were 
donated and trained by Noach, and the first blind clients trained with their 
dogs while living in Noach and Orna’s home. A guide dog school in the United 
States donated two breeding females, and the first breeding stock was 
established.
In 1994 a plot of agricultural land was purchased near 
Moshav Beit Oved, and the Israel Guide Dog Center moved to its present location. 
The first kennels were built and trailer homes were purchased to provide housing 
for the center’s administrative offices and lodging for clients. In 2001 a 
generous contribution by Lady Elizabeth Kaye of London enabled the construction 
of the purpose-built accessible building that now houses the center’s offices, 
student guest rooms, and other facilities.
The mission of the Israel 
Guide Dog Center for the Blind is to improve the quality of life of blind people 
by providing them with safe mobility, independence and self-confidence through 
the faithful assistance of guide dogs.
Blind people who approach the 
Center and are found to be fit for having a guide dog receive a guide dog, 
instruction and regular home visits during the working life of the dog at no 
charge.
Sources: 
https://israelguidedog.org.il/en/history/,
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153372721356746&type=3 and
https://shirapranskyproject.org/business-directory/4678/israel-guide-dog-center-for-the-blind/
The same image reported by Bill is also found here:
https://forward.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/motl-1296x732.jpg, source: 
https://forward.com/fast-forward/500350/ukrainian-refugees-to-join-march-of-living-at-auschwitz-for-first-post-covid-commemoration/. 
The event in which the flag is spotted is called the March of the Living, sometimes referred
to as MOTL (picture). 
The flag is a horizontal white background flag with the logo in the
middle, and towards the upper right hand corner of the fly, three waving 
stripes, from top to bottom: orange, yellow and black. And in the the black 
stripe, there's a dog's paw in white (this picture (https://www.facebook.com/ILguidedog/photos/10165869960115627)
showing a 
cyclist uniform portraying the colors of the organization confirms the 
description).
For example, here's an entry on the participation of IGDCB 
members in one of the MOL: 
https://israelguidedog.org/march-of-the-living/
 
Esteban Rivera, 3 May 2022
![[Alon Israel Fuel Company Ltd. (Israel)]](../images/i/il_gdcb).jpg) image located by Esteban Rivera
 image located by Esteban Rivera
Image from the original located here:
https://shirapranskyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/israel-guide-dog-center-logo.jpg, 
source:
https://shirapranskyproject.org/business-directory/4678/israel-guide-dog-center-for-the-blind/. 
 Esteban Rivera, 3 May 2022