Hearing Care for Needy Children

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.