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http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_2799224
Third-grade fund-raiser nets $25,000 to keep young boy in program
BERKELEY — They pooled tooth fairy money, emptied piggy banks, sold handmade jewelry and held a bike-a-thon for a little deaf boy named Samuel.
This summer, Samuel Brown, of Oakland, will enter preschool at Berkeley's Center for the Education of the Infant Deaf thanks to the innovation and generosity of a group of third-graders.
The two dozen youngsters spent the school year raising nearly $25,000 to keep Samuel, 3, at the private special education center through January. Samuel is the youngest of 10 children being raised by a single mom. His education was in jeopardy when the children from Prospect Sierra Elementary School in El Cerrito got involved.
"The tooth fairy money was amazing... One girl showed us her mouth and said 'I got $2 for this one and $3 for this one,'" said Jill Ellis, the director of the Center for the Education of the Infant Deaf in Berkeley.
The third-graders met Samuel through CEID's "hearing buddies" program, which pairs deaf and hearing students together for friendship, support and a betterunderstanding of the other kid's life.
"They learned to help check hearing aids, to help kids with snacks and how to best get their attention," said Ellis. "Some attended speech therapy with them. They've really been like little teacher aides with the (deaf) kids."
But with the school year and third grade ending, this week was the time to say goodbye to Samuel and the other deaf children they've been assisting since last year.
This week, the third-graders and the tots from the center went on a field trip to Tilden Park's Little Farm.
The day was marked by the feeding of farm animals, certificates of appreciation for the Prospect Sierra students from Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and El Cerrito Mayor Sandi Potter and some bittersweet feelings.
"The students did not want to sing our typical goodbye song," said Ellis, adding that their volunteer work at the center gave them the idea to start a sign language club at their school in the fall. "They also want to keep in touch, write letters, come visit the students," she said.
The day was a treat for Samuel — son of Ernestine Cornelius, 42, of Oakland.
"Samuel loves animals," said his teacher Jessica Salaam. "His favorite animal is a horse."
But Samuel is shy and the first time he went to the Little Farm he was scared of the animals.
But this time, with his buddies by his side, he "just held onto the celery and fed them," Salaam said.
Samuel first came to the nonprofit center two years ago in crisis. At just 3 weeks old, Samuel was diagnosed with auditory neuropathy, a hearing disorder in which sound enters the inner ear normally but the transmission of signals from the inner ear to the brain is impaired, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Third-grade fund-raiser nets $25,000 to keep young boy in program
BERKELEY — They pooled tooth fairy money, emptied piggy banks, sold handmade jewelry and held a bike-a-thon for a little deaf boy named Samuel.
This summer, Samuel Brown, of Oakland, will enter preschool at Berkeley's Center for the Education of the Infant Deaf thanks to the innovation and generosity of a group of third-graders.
The two dozen youngsters spent the school year raising nearly $25,000 to keep Samuel, 3, at the private special education center through January. Samuel is the youngest of 10 children being raised by a single mom. His education was in jeopardy when the children from Prospect Sierra Elementary School in El Cerrito got involved.
"The tooth fairy money was amazing... One girl showed us her mouth and said 'I got $2 for this one and $3 for this one,'" said Jill Ellis, the director of the Center for the Education of the Infant Deaf in Berkeley.
The third-graders met Samuel through CEID's "hearing buddies" program, which pairs deaf and hearing students together for friendship, support and a betterunderstanding of the other kid's life.
"They learned to help check hearing aids, to help kids with snacks and how to best get their attention," said Ellis. "Some attended speech therapy with them. They've really been like little teacher aides with the (deaf) kids."
But with the school year and third grade ending, this week was the time to say goodbye to Samuel and the other deaf children they've been assisting since last year.
This week, the third-graders and the tots from the center went on a field trip to Tilden Park's Little Farm.
The day was marked by the feeding of farm animals, certificates of appreciation for the Prospect Sierra students from Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and El Cerrito Mayor Sandi Potter and some bittersweet feelings.
"The students did not want to sing our typical goodbye song," said Ellis, adding that their volunteer work at the center gave them the idea to start a sign language club at their school in the fall. "They also want to keep in touch, write letters, come visit the students," she said.
The day was a treat for Samuel — son of Ernestine Cornelius, 42, of Oakland.
"Samuel loves animals," said his teacher Jessica Salaam. "His favorite animal is a horse."
But Samuel is shy and the first time he went to the Little Farm he was scared of the animals.
But this time, with his buddies by his side, he "just held onto the celery and fed them," Salaam said.
Samuel first came to the nonprofit center two years ago in crisis. At just 3 weeks old, Samuel was diagnosed with auditory neuropathy, a hearing disorder in which sound enters the inner ear normally but the transmission of signals from the inner ear to the brain is impaired, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication