Hearing Care for Needy Children

Dear Donors,

Thank you for helping us make this another successful year for the KEX Kids Fund and continuing our goal of providing hearing care for all eligible children requesting our help!!

In 2013, your support helped us raise nearly $180,000 to provide both hearing and vision care for needy children in Oregon and SW Washington.  Most of our operating expenses for 2014 are pledged and collected during our annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser.  We received $110,443 during our November 2012 fundraiser to be used for our $160,000 budget for 2014.  Our funds are kept in one account and are used for both of our Hearing and Vision Care programs.

Hearing Care Program Services expenses for 2013 were $28,449.76. The KEX Kids Fund provided care for 40 children in 2013.  These children received hearing care services valued at nearly $114,000.  Our Hearing Care Program has experienced changes and challenges in the recent years.  In 2011, Oregon legislation impacted our hearing program in two ways.  First the requirement that insurance companies to cover costs of hearing aids for children under 18 reduced our hearing program expenses.  Second, cuts in education funding resulted in a reduction in staff at several of our ESD hearing care locations.  In some cases, audiologists are able to continue to provide hearing exams but are no longer able to fit or dispense hearing aids.  In our October 2011 board meeting, we approved reimbursement for private providers for the fitting and dispensing fees for children in this area.  Private audiology providers are also offering services to our children.  In 2013, the Oregon Department of Education policy reduced or eliminated support of audiology services at ESD resulting in further impacts on our hearing program.  Some ESD districts have agreed to use local district resources for evaluation and dispensing hearing aids for children in their district while others are limiting services to evaluation and/or serving children 0 to 5 years of age.  Our board member, Sherry Brown, is keeping the KEX Board updated on these developments and suggesting ways that the KEX Kids Fund can continue to serve children in need of hearing care services.  We currently have eight audiologists providing services to our children through the KEX Kids Fund.  One of our board members is knitting hats for our babies to wear to protect their hearing aids from exploring fingers.

Throughout the year we receive thank you notes and photos from our hearing care children. We are attaching copies of these items to this report. 

Thank you again for helping us bring sound to needy children in Oregon and SW Washington.

• Thank you from Noemi (PDF)
  
• Thank you from Laura (PDF)
  

From January 1st to September 30^th 2013, the KEX Kids Fund received $67,856.23 from businesses, foundations, individuals, and service organizations. These funds include $35,980 in corporate sponsorships for the May 19^th golf tournament and $5,411.90 from our Sight and Sound Fundraiser started by a local Blues singer three years ago.  Most of our operating expenses for 2013 are pledged and collected during our annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser. We received $102,504 during our November 2012 fundraiser to be used for our $190,000 budget for 2013. Funds are kept in one account and are used for both of our Hearing Care and Vision Care Programs.

Hearing Care Program Services expenses for the first three quarters of 2013 were $22,837.24. The KEX Kids Fund provided care for 38 children from January to September 2013. These children received hearing care services valued at nearly $88,000.  In 2011, Oregon legislation impacted our hearing program in two ways. First the requirement that insurance companies cover costs of hearing aids for children under 18 reduced our hearing program expenses.  Second, cuts in education funding resulted in a reduction in staff at several of our ESD hearing care locations. In some cases, audiologists are able to continue to provide hearing exams but are no longer able to fit or dispense hearing aids. In our October 2011 board meeting, we approved reimbursement of two private providers for the fitting and dispensing fees for children in this area. Private audiology providers are also offering services to our children. In 2013, the Oregon Department of Education policy reduced or eliminated support of audiology services at ESD resulting in further impacts on our hearing program. Some ESD districts have agreed to use local district resources for evaluation and dispensing hearing aids for children in their district while others are limiting services to evaluation and/or serving children 0 to 5 years of age.

Our board member, Sherry Brown, is keeping the KEX Board updated on these developments and suggesting ways that the KEX Kids Fund can continue to serve children in need of hearing care services. One of our board members is knitting hats for our babies to wear to protect their hearing aids from exploring fingers. We will attach thank you notes and/or drawings from hearing care children as we receive them.

From January 1st to June 30^th 2013, the KEX Kids Fund received $60,526.64 from businesses, foundations, individuals, and service organizations. These funds include $34,790  in corporate sponsorships for the May 19^th golf tournament and $5,411.90 from our Sight and Sound Fundraiser started by a local Blues singer three years ago.  Most of our operating expenses for 2013 are pledged and collected during our annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser.  We received $102,504 during our November 2012 fundraiser to be used for our $190,000 budget for 2013.  Funds are kept in one account and are used for both of our Hearing Care and Vision Care Programs.

Hearing Care Program Services expenses for the first half of 2013 were $18,519.04. The KEX Kids Fund provided care for 36 children from January to June 2013.  These children received hearing care services valued at nearly $75,000.  In 2011, Oregon legislation impacted our hearing program in two ways.  First the requirement that insurance companies to cover costs of hearing aids for children under 18 reduced our hearing program expenses.  Second, cuts in education funding resulted in a reduction in staff at one of our ESD hearing care locations.  The audiologist is able to continue to provide hearing exams but is no longer able to fit or dispense hearing aids.  In our October 2011 board meeting, we approved reimbursement of two private providers for the fitting and dispensing fees for children in this area.  Private audiology providers are also offering services to our children.  In 2013, the Oregon Department of Education policy reduced or eliminated support of audiology services at ESDs resulting in further impacts on our hearing program.  Some ESD districts have agreed to used local district resources for evaluation and dispensing hearing aids for children in their district while others are limiting services to evaluation and/or serving children 0 to 5 years of age.  Our board member, Sherry Brown, is keeping the KEX Board updated on these developments and suggesting ways that the KEX Kids Fund can continue to serve children in need of hearing care services.  One of our board members is knitting hats for our babies to wear to protect their hearing aids from exploring fingers.  We are attaching a photo of one of our babies with one of these hats.  We are also attaching a thank you note and drawing from a hearing care child. 

From January 1st to March 31^st 2013, the KEX Kids Fund received $11,514 from businesses, foundations, individuals, and service organizations. These funds include $2,380 in corporate sponsorships for the May 19^th golf tournament.  Most of our operating expenses for 2013 are pledged and collected during our annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser.  We received $102,504 during our November 2012 fundraiser to be used for our $190,000 budget for 2013.  Funds are kept in one account and are used for both of our Hearing Care and Vision Care Programs.

Hearing Care Program Services expenses for the first quarter of 2013 were $2,994. The KEX Kids Fund provided care for 21 children from January to March 2013.  These children received hearing care services valued at nearly $12,000.  In 2011, Oregon legislation impacted our hearing program in two ways.  First the requirement that insurance companies to cover costs of hearing aids for children under 18 reduced our hearing program expenses.  Second, cuts in education funding resulted in a reduction in staff at one of our ESD hearing care locations.  The audiologist is able to continue to provide hearing exams but is no longer able to fit or dispense hearing aids.  In our October 2011 board meeting, we approved reimbursement of two private providers for the fitting and dispensing fees for children in this area.  Private audiology providers are also offering services to our children.  One of our audiologists, Sherry Brown, Columbia Regional Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, frequently receives Thank you notes from our hearing care children.  We are attaching two of these notes to this report. 

From January 1st to December 30^th 2012, The KEX Kids Fund received $194,805 from businesses, foundations, individuals, and service organizations. These funds include $4175 from a 20/20 Celebration of Sight and Sound fundraising event held January 15th in Oregon City and $34,245.46 in corporate sponsorships for the May 20^th golf tournament.  These funds also include payments for pledges ($106,734) from our annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser where we obtain most of our funding for the following year.  Funds are kept in one account and are used for both of our Hearing Care and Vision Care Programs.

Hearing Care Program Services expenses for 2012 were $40,527.12. The KEX Kids Fund provided care for 49 children during 2012.  These children received hearing care services valued at nearly $160,000.  In 2011, Oregon legislation impacted our hearing program in two ways.  First the requirement that insurance companies to cover costs of hearing aids for children under 18 reduced our hearing program expenses.  Second, cuts in education funding resulted in a reduction in staff at one of our ESD hearing care locations.  The audiologist is able to continue to provide hearing exams but is no longer able to fit or dispense hearing aids.  In our October 2011 board meeting, we approved reimbursement of two private providers for the fitting and dispensing fees for children in this area.  Private audiology providers are also offering services to our children.  The following message is from Jeff Cox, Audiologist for the nonprofit Hearing Education and Resource Technologies in Washington County.  The KEX Kids Fund has been a wonderful resource for families in the community that would otherwise not be able to afford hearing aids or hearing aid repairs for their children. Over the past year we have used the fund on many occasions to help serve children throughout Washington County. The application process is simple, efficient, and timely. No doubt, without this support, there would be many children that would struggle to hear when developing speech and language or when attending school.