Our Lovely Recipients for 2018
The Avalon Hearing Christmas Mission is our favorite event of the year, where we get to celebrate the true spirit of giving and provide 12 wonderful Sacramento residents the gift of better hearing.
Over the past few weeks, the 12 recipients have come in for a Free EDUCATIONAL Hearing Test and Consultation and were selected for our 12 Days of Christmas Hearing Mission. We then took hearing aids that have been donated throughout the year by our extended Avalon family and sent them to be fully reconditioned for our dear recipients. We then program their hearing aids ahead of time, so they’ll be ready to go on the day of the Event. They don’t even get to try their brand new hearing aids until today, where everyone is meeting for the first time.
There were so many special moments in this day and here are a few of the stories we would love to share.
Our marvelous Maybelle, who at 96 years young, received a new pair of hearing aids that belonged to one of our favorite patients who recently moved on in life. This patient had collected recycling for nearly 30 years and had donated close to $40,000 to the disabled to receive special needs treatment. One of her final wishes was to donate her hearing aids to Avalon and we couldn’t have picked a better, more deserving person to receive this gift than Maybelle. After being fit with her new hearing aids, her clarity score jumped from 8% to 80% speech understanding! That is an incredible gain.
Our second heartwarming story of the day comes from Lorna, who was accompanied by her daughter, granddaughter and TWO great-granddaughters! Lorna was having trouble communicating at mealtimes with her two great-granddaughters who spoke too fast for her. Her family encouraged her to seek help at Avalon. Lorna’s granddaughter, Randi, is pregnant with her third child and has been saving the announcement of the babies name until Lorna could hear it for herself loud and clear! Lorna is looking forward to her new-found confidence to chat away with her lovely family.
Our third story of the day was a complete surprise to our dear Avalon colleague Nancy! Nancy has been with us for many years and recently got her hearing tested. She knew she was a candidate for hearing aids but was still considering her options. Little did she know, Betty and the team wanted her to be the secret “13th” recipient of our 12 days of giving. Nancy couldn’t hold back the tears and the entire Avalon family was elated for her. There was barely a dry eye in the house for this gift.
Our closing story to this wonderful day is that no matter what age or background, everyone deserves the opportunity to hear well. Our youngest recipient, Katie (36), has profound hearing loss and must use sign language to navigate conversations at home with daughter Rose. She was having a hard time at work conversing with colleagues who didn’t understand the need to face her and speak clearly. Katie opted to get glitter in her hearing aid earmolds to showcase her special talents to the world. At the end of the event, we asked Maybelle, our most senior member of the Avalon family and Katie to share a moment. Together they bridge 60 years of our incredible world and were able to share it on our very special Christmas celebration. What an extraordinary treat to see these two together.
These weren’t the only heartwarming stories of today, but they certainly captured our hearts with their amazing presence and the lasting impact we hope the team at Avalon can have in their lives and their loved one’s lives. Thank you again for all your generous donations, we couldn’t make this day possible without all of YOU!