Former President Clinton raising money for 'hearing and speech school'

[Adamsmomma]

What this article neglects to mention is how much each ticket cost... I'm hoping the 'pledges' follow through though-- the school is in need of some room...

Clinton fund-raiser could raise more than $300,000 - Fayette County - Kentucky.com

Former President Bill Clinton hasn't arrived yet, but organizers say the Friday night fund-raising dinner where he will speak is shaping up to be a success.

The Lexington Hearing and Speech Center anticipates ticket sales and pledges made at the event will raise more than $300,000 as a kickoff to the fund-raising campaign to replace the North Ashland Avenue school.

The dinner at the R.J. Corman aircraft hangar in Nicholasville — a site that has been used in the past for proms and banquets — is nearly sold out, said Lori Shepherd, executive director of the hearing and speech center. Ticket sales end Thursday.

"We are just about at capacity," Shepherd said Wednesday morning. "We can move some things around and sit some more folks in. And I've got to tell you, even as late as today, that's what we're doing because the phone is still ringing."

Clinton has personal experience with hearing loss. He was fitted for a hearing aid in 1997 after realizing that rallies and concerts had taken a toll on his hearing.

In recent days, the former president has appeared around the country in support of Democratic candidates facing opposition in the mid-term elections, but Shepherd said Clinton is not making any political appearances in this visit.

Kassie DePaiva, a Kentucky native and actress who appears on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, will emcee the dinner in Nicholasville. Her son was born deaf, and DePaiva has raised money and awareness for organizations including The League for the Hard of Hearing and the Deafness Research Foundation.

Wednesday was the first day of classes for about 70 preschool and kindergarten children who attend the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, which offers day care, preschool and kindergarten programs for hearing- and speech-impaired children. It also offers audiological and speech-language pathology services. In all, the center serves 800 to 1,000 children each year, Shepherd said, and the Clinton visit has brought more attention to its programs.

"We look for opportunities to share what we do and share our mission," Shepherd said, "and this has given us a huge stage to do it on."

 

[jillio]

Good ole Bill! Hope they raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

[TXgolfer]

I always liked Clinton..... Didnt agree with him much but I thought he was a good guy.

 

[kokonut]

Nice of him to help raise funds for a hearing and speech school.

 

[Adamsmomma]

Hopefully the hoopla won't be too bad when he's at the school-- he's touring before he does the 'dinner/dancing' thing tonight-- apparently the Secret Service were out there yesterday checking everything out...and they're locking down the school and possibly the street when he arrives.....there's another PS elementary school down the street-- those parents are gonna get PISSED if the road is blocked!!!

I'm just hoping it turns out to be all they're hoping it does--

 

[Adamsmomma]

Although I have a little bit of an issue w/the part of the 'interview' where the board of directors says they teach children to communicate w/out sign language... (since Adam uses both-- but that's another thread!) LOL

This is the first of the news reports from Former President Clinton's visit to Lexington Hearing and Speech...

Who Pres. Clinton came to help (video thru link)

Before speaking at a Jessamine County fundraiser Friday night for the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, former President Bill Clinton paid a hastily-scheduled visit to the school itself.

It's one of several blessings the center, which is celebrating its' 50th anniversary, received Friday.

Earlier, the Starkey Foundation (the charitable arm of the hearing aid company) was at the center to fit and donate expensive hearing aids to 20 children -- some of who'll now be able to better hear what the president has to say. The chairman of the hearing and speech center said Starkey will also pay all the expenses for the fundraiser, which is expected to raise more than $300,000.
Asked to sum up the center, King Offutt said, "Miracles happen here."

"They're not huge miracles, they don't happen overnight, they take time and dedication on the part of our staff and hard work by staff and children, but they're indeed miracles," he said.

The Lexington Hearing and Speech Center helps hearing-impaired children learn to communicate -- without sign language -- so they can enter first grade on par with their peers.
Offutt remembered showing a donor around during their last fund-raising campaign:

"We were watching a class and a little child with cochlear implants said her '1-2-3-4-5' for the first time, and it was something, it really was. It was two grown men crying," he said.

Money from the fundraiser will help pay for a new, bigger building, so that one day, here may be many more such scenes.

 

[Bebonang]

Yeah, right. Umf. When it comes to oral only program with no sign language. I don't like the words "hearing" and "speech" which turns out that those fundraisers and hearing aids company want the school to be oral only students with the praise that the CI students can say the numbers like 1-2-3-4-5. It is still the same old, same old all over again. Nothing new. So why are you all happy about the Hearing and Speech school becoming an oral only school like back in the dark ages? I just can not stand it when they do that.

 

[Adamsmomma]

Yeah, right. Umf. When it comes to oral only program with no sign language. I don't like the words "hearing" and "speech" which turns out that those fundraisers and hearing aids company want the school to be oral only students with the praise that the CI students can say the numbers like 1-2-3-4-5. It is still the same old, same old all over again. Nothing new. So why are you all happy about the Hearing and Speech school becoming an oral only school like back in the dark ages? I just can not stand it when they do that.

I was ok w/the fundraiser and this company giving kids (from the community who do not attend LHSC) hearing aids until I read that, on a personal level it stung... how many HA kids have done the same thing there??? (I know one personally)-- This is where my personal conflict lies...

Oh you'll love this... 50 years ago, it used to be called the 'Oral and Deaf School'.... :roll::roll:

 

[Bottesini]

I was ok w/the fundraiser and this company giving kids (from the community who do not attend LHSC) hearing aids until I read that, on a personal level it stung... how many HA kids have done the same thing there??? (I know one personally)-- This is where my personal conflict lies...

Oh you'll love this... 50 years ago, it used to be called the 'Oral and Deaf School'.... :roll::roll:

It won't surprise any of us who are older. This is a common cause of bitterness of people who were really left between the hearing and deaf worlds and not good communicators in either one.

 

[Adamsmomma]

It won't surprise any of us who are older. This is a common cause of bitterness of people who were really left between the hearing and deaf worlds and not good communicators in either one.

Botti, I can understand how it would be a cause of bitterness... I'm just sorry it's still happening only w/more 'politically correct terms'...

 

[rockin'robin]

Good for ol' Bill...!...Just hope Monica doesn't show up....all in all I liked Clinton. But haven't forgotten that quote...."keep ur pants zipped!...Ur gonna go down in history as the only Prez who couldn't keep his pants zipped up"!

 

[jillio]

Good for ol' Bill...!...Just hope Monica doesn't show up....all in all I liked Clinton. But haven't forgotten that quote...."keep ur pants zipped!...Ur gonna go down in history as the only Prez who couldn't keep his pants zipped up"!

I guess you are forgetting about JFK.

And he is not the only Prez that couldn't keep his pants zipped...he is one of the few who actually got caught is all.

And his sex life has virtually nothing to do with his charitable works.

 

[Adamsmomma]

when I'm on my pc I'll post the piece where Clinton is quoted. I'm glad I didn't buy into the hoopla... sigh.

 

[deafdyke]

I thought this was affliated with Lexington School for the Deaf? It is a Speech and Hearing School, but could it be that this is the arm of Lex that helps kids who Sign with their speech issues? after all, many if not most Deaf School kids get a pretty hefty dose of speech therapy (voice off ASLers are pretty rare overall)

 

[Adamsmomma]

I thought this was affliated with Lexington School for the Deaf? It is a Speech and Hearing School, but could it be that this is the arm of Lex that helps kids who Sign with their speech issues? after all, many if not most Deaf School kids get a pretty hefty dose of speech therapy (voice off ASLers are pretty rare overall)

No this is a small private school in Lexington Kentucky... its an 'Oral School' that has a daycare and preschool as well as an audi and SLT clinic. It is confusing when you google it since there's a Lexington NY which apparently has a Deaf school... but

 

[deafdyke]

Ugh that sucks........I hope the oral school is very small.

 

[Adamsmomma]

Ugh that sucks........I hope the oral school is very small.

Yeah its real small and honestly the majority of the kiddos there aren't deaf/HoH or speech issues either... most are siblings of kids who used to go there and they got grandfathered in...

 

[Adamsmomma]

Here's the article w/Clinton's comments in them... I'm just glad this whole ordeal is over!! Of course most of the commentors couldn't help but make it a political thing-- :roll: even though he came w/no political agenda in tow-- AND spoke free of charge- he dontated his time-- Just hoping the end result is what LHSC is looking for!

Bill Clinton praises hearing center, urges support - Fayette County - Kentucky.com

NICHOLASVILLE — Whether it's helping the earthquake-stricken people in Haiti or the hearing impaired in Kentucky, the work is done much in the same spirit, former President Bill Clinton said Friday night at a fund-raising dinner for the Lexington Hearing & Speech Center.

"This is a big piece of what will determine America's success and decency and humanity in the 21st century," Clinton said.

"Intelligence and ability and dreams are evenly distributed across humanity," Clinton added. "Opportunity and organization and empowerment are not. And that's why you're here to support them."

Clinton spoke Friday night to kick off a $3 million fund-raising campaign to replace the facility on North Ashland Avenue. Nearly 500 people attended. Tickets for the event went for $500 a person or $4,500 for a table of 10.

The event was held at the R.J. Corman Railroad Group aircraft hangar on U.S. 27 in Nicholasville. Clinton attended free of charge, and proceeds from ticket sales went toward fund-raising efforts for the center. Organizers anticipated that ticket sales and pledges would raise more than $300,000.

The center teaches children with hearing, speech and language impairments to listen and talk, offering education, therapy and family support. Clinton took a private tour of the center Friday afternoon and met some of the students who go there.

"Everywhere you see people standing together to step into a gap to do a public good beyond their own personal interest. We all need to look and say 'Can I help there? Should I help there?" Clinton said.

Places like the hearing center often "are doing something that the government's not doing or the private sector can't do, or they're doing something faster, cheaper or better. They're breaking a mold. Fifty years ago, this center broke a mold. But because they did, ironically, the need for what they do grows and grows and grows."

Clinton said $3 million "is a tiny price to pay" to help children with impaired hearing. The former president said he has had a minor hearing impairment for more than 30 years, which he attributed to playing in a rock 'n' roll band and hunting as he was growing up in Arkansas.

"Apparently the combined impact of gunshots and amps are not good for the ears," Clinton said.

"I first noticed when I was a young governor in my early 30s," Clinton said, "when I went to a basketball game or football game, and I was walking up and down the aisles, and people called out to me and I never heard them. They'd say, 'See, I told you: We elected that guy too young. He is so arrogant, he won't even talk to us any more.'"

Friday night's menu included fresh fruit; peppered arugula; lump crab; imported cheeses; oven-baked sea bass drizzled with fresh lemon; sliced tenderloin of beef topped with horseradish and peppercorn; potatoes Dauphinoise; and French-style green beans.

The dinner attracted a who's who of Democrats, including former Gov. John Y. Brown Jr., Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo, state Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway, House Speaker Greg Stumbo and state Auditor Crit Luallen. Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry and mayoral challenger Jim Gray also attended.

Also in the audience was Phil Hellmuth Jr., a world champion poker player who has raised millions of dollars for the Starkey Hearing Foundation and other charities. The Starkey organization, which delivers more than 50,000 hearing aids around the world, sponsored Friday night's event.

"When you're blessed with fame and fortune and great success, then you have to help others," Hellmuth said. "It's not just about you."

Hellmuth said he has not played poker with Clinton.

"There are government officials I've played poker with, but I'm not allowed to even talk about it ... because I can't betray their trust," he said.

Clinton said he came to Kentucky in part because he was encouraged to do so by former state Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Lundergan and his wife. Lundergan's catering company, Lundy's, catered the Nicholasville banquet. The Lundergans have a daughter who graduated from the Lexington Hearing & Speech Center, Clinton said.

"Whenever they ask me to do something, I try to do it," Clinton said. "I found that I'm going to do it sooner or later anyway, and it saves a lot of time if I just go on and say yes. Those who have dealt with them know what I'm talking about."

 

[Hohtopics]

Yeah its real small and honestly the majority of the kiddos there aren't deaf/HoH or speech issues either... most are siblings of kids who used to go there and they got grandfathered in...

I was reading your posts in this thread. First you obviously have a "chip". Secondly, as constructively put, you just had a deaf toddler and you're already an expert on how to raise one? :roll:

 

[shel90]

The Lexington Hearing and Speech Center helps hearing-impaired children learn to communicate -- without sign language -- so they can enter first grade on par with their peers.
Offutt remembered showing a donor around during their last fund-raising campaign:

See...that statement right there implicates that sign language will keep deaf children from being on par with their hearing peers. some people wonder why I am against the oral-only philosophy? It is clear as a bell here..