Hearing Care for Needy Children

Dear Donors,

Dear Donors

Thank you GlobalGiving donors for your generous support this year!  Several donors have set up recurring donations and we appreciate this ongoing support. Thank you, too, for helping us to continue to provide vision and hearing care for all eligible children requesting our help!  We scheduled two fundraising events in 2018.  Our third annual Vision Fun Run took place on May 20, 2018 in NW Portland.  See www.visionfunrun.comfor additional information.  We partnered in a Golf Tournament with the Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation at Langdon Farms in September.  See the OLSHF website for additional information www.olshf.org.  Our annual Thanksgiving Radio-A-Thon was held Thanksgiving Weekend on KEX 1190 AM radio station.  See https://1190kex.iheart.comand search for KEX Kids Fund On Air Pledge Drive.

In 2018 your support helped us raise $233,416.11 to provide both hearing and vision care for needy children in Oregon and SW Washington.  Most of our operating expenses for 2019 were pledged and collected during our annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser.  Funds will be used for our $160,000 budget for 2019.  . We are very pleased with this support as the radio time for the fundraiser was less than previous years. The KEX Kids Fund drive was on the air this year on Thursday and Friday from 6 a.m. through 9 a.m. and then Monday and Tuesday during the Mark Mason show from 12 p.m. through 3 p.m. Our funds are kept in one account and are used for both of our Hearing and Vision Care programs.  

As of 12/31/2018 we have received $233,416.11 including $197,110.90 from our Thanksgiving Pledge Drive.  Our hearing care expenses for this year were $32,697.99 for hearing care for 49 children (around $667.00/child).  These children received services valued at over $130,000. (4x our expenses)

We also added four counties in Oregon and Washington to our vision and hearing programs:  Crook County in Oregon to Vision Care and Lane County in Oregon to Hearing Care; Klickitat and Walla Walla Counties in Washington to Hearing Care so that we now serve children in 24 counties in Oregon and SW Washington. 

Our board member, Sherry Brown, is keeping the KEX Board updated on state funding changes and suggesting ways that the KEX Kids Fund can continue to serve children in need of hearing care services. Sherry encouraged another ESD audiologist from the Salem area, Glenda Smith-Fowler to join our board and they have recruited additional audiology providers to provide services to our children to bridge some of the gaps from Oregon ESD funding cuts.  Sherry and Glenda are helping us consider options for providing hearing care to needy children outside our current 24 county service area.  We currently have 24 audiologists supporting our hearing program.

Throughout the year we receive thank you notes and photos from our hearing care children. We attach copies of these items to our reports. Thank you again for helping us to bring sound to needy children in Oregon and SW Washington.