In the summer of 1938, the Uptown Detroit Lions Club members gathered to discuss the future of Dr. Glenn Wheeler, a blind man who had shown interest in obtaining a personal guide dog. They decided to pay all of the expenses for the man and contacted the only school in America at the time for guide dogs, The Seeing Eye. The club was turned down because of the organization's policy, which stated that individuals could not be sponsored by clubs or organizations, but that the contributions must go into the school as a whole, to be used where needed. This was an initial setback.