Creating a Lasting Impact

At the end of July, Starkey Hearing Foundation once again journeyed to China. The relationship between Starkey Hearing Foundation and China started 8 years ago, and since then, the gift of hearing and kindness has been spread throughout 9 provinces and 18 cities. Every visit, including our most recent, has been extremely impactful. During this visit, over 3,000 people from 9 districts of Hohhot and over 3,000 people from 14 districts of Hulun Buir were given the gift of hearing. To date, over 40,000 individuals in China have received hearing aid fitting services, making significant progress towards our vision: So the World May Hear.

Every hearing mission’s success is largely dependent on our local partners. During our most recent China mission, we were fortunate enough to collaborate with many organizations and individuals. With a joint effort from Beijing Ai’er Foundation, Inner Mongolia Disabled Persons' Federation, Starkey Hearing Technologies’ China team, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government, Hohhot Municipal Government, Hulun Buir Municipal Government, Hohhot Disabled Persons' Federation and Hulun Buir Disabled Persons' Federation, the mission provided a great opportunity for the government and civil organizations to work together to help those in need. Working together alongside these organizations not only helps us work towards our mission, but it also allows these organization to experience what caring means to our Starkey team. They were able to witness first-hand the impact that can be made in communities by giving the gift of hearing. The mission was nothing short of life changing for everyone involved.

The consultant of China Association of Mayors and the founding chairwoman of Beijing Ai’er Foundation, Madame TAO, cares deeply about our hearing-impaired patients and the Foundation’s work. Every day, she attended the mission with our team and took the time to ask the patients how they felt after being fit with their new hearing aids.

On behalf of Starkey Hearing Foundation, William Austin and Madame TAO presented the Strategic Partner Award to Heping ZHU, Former Vice Principal of China Air-Force Command College and Grandson of Late Chinese Marshal De ZHU, for his dedicated service to the patients every year. Mr. Austin and Madame TAO also presented the Goodwill Ambassador Award to Xingning WANG, Chairperson of Yunan Disabled Person's Federation, for his continued support and commitment towards the Foundation’s mission over the years. WANG’s love and care towards the patients will surely influence many more to join the cause.

Achin Bhowmik, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Engineering of Starkey Hearing Technologies, and his family also joined our team traveling thousands of miles to Inner Mongolia to help bring the gift of hearing to those in need.

Dan and Angela DeLong attended the China mission with their two daughters. The DeLong family has been incredible supporters of the Foundation for the past few years. The mission provided a great opportunity for the four of them to bond over helping people in need. “We can change the world and if it’s one hearing aid at a time, one person at a time, one mission trip at a time, whatever it is, we can make a difference in the world if we work together.” – Angela DeLong

On August 5, 2019, during Starkey Hearing Foundation’s mission, we fit our 40,000th patient in China during our visit to the city of Hulun Buir.

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