Supporting the Raising of Guide Dogs to Help Visually Impaired Persons Walk Freely

The first donation recipient organization we will look at is Eye Mate, Inc.* . Eye Mate, Inc. aims to contribute to encouraging visually impaired persons to participate in society and to improving their welfare. It achieves these aims by raising and training guide dogs, providing walking guidance to visually impaired persons, and offering daily life training.
The Seven & i Group has endorsed the desire of Eye Mate, Inc. to solve the problems in walking faced by visually impaired persons and to support them so that they can walk around freely without hesitation. We began working with Eye Mate, Inc. as a donation recipient organization in the Seven Mile Program in June 2023.

Eye Mate, Inc.’s project to raise guide dogs is one which relies mainly on donations. This project consists of various activities including developing walking instructors and raising awareness of visually impaired persons and guide dogs in addition to raising and training guide dogs and providing walking guidance to visually impaired persons. The miles you donate are leading to a massive step toward giving hope for tomorrow to visually impaired persons.

*An Eye Mate is a guide dog trained by Eye Mate, Inc. The name combines three words which sound like “eye” (eye, I and ai (the Japanese word for love) and “mate” which means friend in English. Eye Mate, my (I) beloved eye mate, serves as an equal partner for visually impaired persons.

Supporting the Future of Japan and Children

The second donation recipient organization we will highlight is the Nippon Foundation Kids Support Project . This project was established by the Nippon Foundation to expand support for the children who will bear the future of Japan. It provides painstaking support tailored to the various challenges faced by children.

One of its activities is the Children’s Third Place Project. The organization is rolling out activities to establish a third place to help children who are isolated in their communities across Japan. In addition, it is engaged in comprehensive activities to support children who are struggling to survive. Those activities include supporting children with incurable diseases and providing scholarships for those raised in social care. All the miles donated by everyone are being effectively used in these activities to provide support so that children can have bright hopes for the future.

Future of Donations Envisioned by the Seven Mile Program

The Seven Mile Program is used by many of our customers who have a desire to support someone and to contribute to society. The donation recipient organizations are also engaged in activities with high aspirations. We feel happy to be able to serve as a bridge between those parties. At the same time, we are aiming to further evolve the service because we feel the responsibility to meet the desires of our customers and the enthusiasm of the donation recipient organizations.

What the Seven & i Group can do is to connect the desire of our customers to provide support with the organizations which need that support. We will focus our efforts on promoting further awareness and use of the Seven Mile Program in the future. We will refine the development of contents which can contribute to society even more. We will also strive to aim to create a better society through donations. It is now possible to make donations from 10 miles a time in the Seven Mile Program. The accumulation of small donations becomes a massive force. We look forward to your continued cooperation to help many people live fulfilling lives.