Bill Austin Honored with UST Golden Cross Award

Today is an incredibly proud day for Starkey Hearing Foundation as Bill Austin has been honored with the UST Golden Cross Award from University of Santo Tomas (UST), the Catholic University of the Philippines.

The UST Golden Cross Award recognizes Bill for his tireless efforts to reflect caring and use hearing as a vehicle to change lives throughout the world. Bill and the Foundation team are currently in the Philippines providing free hearing aids and care to more than 9,000 Filipinos over the course of three weeks.

The UST Golden Cross is the highest award granted by the university. It is given to individuals who excel in the promotion of the arts, humanities, and sciences, or have distinguished themselves by their total commitment to the service of humankind.

The award has only been given out 10 previous times its 48-year history. Past recipients of the UST Golden Cross include His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain, H.E. Madame Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, and other leaders and dignitaries.

“I’m extremely honored to receive the UST Golden Cross Award,” said Austin. “I’m also very humbled, as I consider it a blessing to be able to share the gift of hearing with people in the Philippines and other countries around the world. I am deeply moved by how people—even if they don’t speak the same language—embrace the chance to share kindness, empathy and generosity. We feel very blessed to be able to do this work.”