16 / matters magazine / holiday 2018 J ethro the Seeing Eye puppy was frightened of trains. It was almost im- possible for his puppy raiser to keep him from balking and whining when a train entered the station. “I knew if we couldn’t get him to board a train he’d be released from the program,” says Monica Cullen, a Maplewood resi- dent, currently raising her fourth Seeing Eye puppy. So she asked Janet Keeler, a volunteer who’s been training Seeing Eye puppies for 37 years, and is co- leader of the Essex County Puppy Club. “Janet said I needed to keep Jethro moving to help calm his nerves. She got on the train with two other dogs to show him how it works. Then I got him going and we made it up on the third try,” says Cullen of their first trip from Maplewood Station to Morristown. She gets misty-eyed as she explains how Jethro’s trainer later mentioned that now he loves trains so much he could be considered for a blind person who is a city commuter. “It’s such a rewarding experience,” says Cullen, “to know I helped Jethro overcome his fear.” Some- day Jethro may be helping a blind person board a train each day. And Cullen helped that happen. Cullen’s is one of many Essex County Puppy Club stories. The Puppy Club is a group of fami- lies that raises Seeing Eye puppies for the first 14 to 16 months of their lives. A Seeing Eye puppy wears a special scarf or vest. Just look around the SOMA area, and you’ll see a lot of them. “We have six families currently raising Seeing Eye puppies in the South Orange-Maplewood area,” says Carmella Passaro, co-leader of the Puppy Club. She and Keeler met in the early 1980s, when both of them had kids who asked to raise Seeing Eye puppies. Now Keeler has a granddaughter who has raised Seeing Eye puppies. Passaro and Keeler continue to raise puppies for the program, too. “I’ve done Seeing Some Superheroes Wear a Vest The Seeing Eye puppies of SOMA BY ADRIANNA DONAT