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NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Forest Hills Journal
Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Reprinted courtesy of the Forest Hills Journal.

Group on par to benefit deaf awareness, education for children
By Susan Carter
Contributor

Tom Garriga, vice president of Advocates for Deaf Education, has tallied the bogies and pars from the group's 2005 Annual Golf Outing and has come up with a whopping $17,000 profit.

The four founders of Advocates for Deaf Education organized the group in an effort to improve the learning capabilities of hearing-impaired children and raise awareness about deaf education.

The annual golf outing, which was June 10 at Hamilton Elks Golf Course, is one of two major
fundraisers the group organizes each year to raise money for deaf education.

The four founding families, Jennifer and Steve Burns of North Bend, Tom and Tracey Garriga of Anderson Township, Mike and Jill Gartner of West Chester, and Bob and Kathy Murphy of Western Hills united their efforts to help hearing-impaired children.

Three of the team's four hearing-impaired children all had the Cochlea-implants and met with
Dr. Robin Cotton of Children's Hospital on a quarterly basis.

Working with Cotton, head of the ENT department, the group was able to carve out a vision
for educational opportunities for children with hearing impairments whose families wished for them to be oral.

The team worked with Jean Moog, a specialist in deaf education in St. Louis, Mo., to establish a school
in Cincinnati. As a result, Ohio Valley Voices was created to meet the need of oral education. Opening in June 2000, Ohio Valley Voices now works with 40 children.

The purpose of the school was to help the children to get caught up with their peers so by second grade the children could be mainstreamed into regular classrooms and be comfortable socially and academically.

The group eventually phased out of their work with the school, leaving it in the hands of an external board.

It was the desire of Garriga, Gartner, Murphy and Burns to reach a broader scope in deaf education.

The group not only wants to support the school, but any organization and/or family needing help for the hearing-impaired. The men see a lot of work to be done in Cincinnati.

"Cincinnati is unique in that there are options for deaf children. One of the services we can
provide is helping parents of hearing-impaired children to find out what help is available," Garriga said.

The group evaluates the incoming applications to determine the magnitude and urgency of the needs.
Typically the group will help individuals by assisting with two-thirds of the total cost. In the case of one family, Advocates for Deaf Education paid $2,000 of the total $3,000 necessary to buy a hearing aid.

In addition to fundraisers, the men distribute an annual mailing to about 300 families for participation in contributing to the annual fund.

"One hundred percent of our dollars are working dollars. One hundred percent of (Advocates for Deaf Education) contributions will be awarded to families and organizations that benefit hearing-impaired children," Gartner said.

Reflecting on the beginning phase of working with their hearing-impaired daughter, Burns said, "On my daughter's second birthday, the doctor turned her implant on. We took everybody to Children's Hospital so she could hear the family sing 'Happy Birthday.' For the first time she could hear our voices."

Through the use of personal contacts, Burns was able to reach out and enroll a hearing-impaired co-worker to design the group's Web site.

To find out more about this group, or to send a contribution, visit the group's Web site at www.advocatesdeafed.org.

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