Hearts for Hearing receives $5,000 grant from Oklahoma City Community Foundation
Hearts for Hearing is pleased to announce it has received a $5,000 grant from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s Opportunities for Children iFund grant program. This grant helped support Hearts for Hearing’s 2023 Summer Camp for children who are born deaf and use technology to listen and talk. This year’s theme, A Galaxy of Sound, immersed campers in space-themed activities, crafts, and foods, and included a daytrip to the Oklahoma Science Museum and its planetarium. Campers especially enjoyed customized videotaped messages exclusively for them from real-life NASA astronauts.
“In many cases, these campers – our patients – are the only children in their school classroom or friend group with a cochlear implant or some other type of hearing technology,” says Hearts for Hearing President & CEO Joanna T. Smith, who adds, “At our camp, all children – and many of the volunteer group leaders – rely on technology to hear. It is great to see all these campers interacting, having fun, and making friends with other students who experience the world just like them.” Smith said the iFund grant makes it possible to create such a high-quality camp experience for campers and expressed her gratitude to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation for its continued support.
Nearly 70 children attended this year’s camp held June 12-16 at Frontline Church in downtown Oklahoma City. Hearts for Hearing is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and its summer camp program began in 2004.
Hearts for Hearing is a comprehensive hearing health clinic for both children and adults with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Shawnee. It was founded as a 501(c)(3) to provide funding for the first set of hearing technology for children with hearing loss in Oklahoma. Its mission has expanded to include industry-leading clinical, technology, and research services. Hearts for Hearing’s collaborative model of audiologists and speech-language pathologists working together enables the best outcomes for its patients. To learn more, www.heartsforhearing.org.
Founded in 1969, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that works with donors to create charitable funds that will benefit our community both now and in the future. An initiative of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation Trustees, the iFund grant program utilizes gifts from donors to support services for children and older adults, as well as provide access to health care. To learn more about the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, visit www.occf.org.