USC Organization Helps Hearing-Impaired Children
Video by Rafael Garcia
Ending All Roads to Silence, or EARS, is a nonprofit organization that started right here at USC.
EARS gives hearing-impaired children a chance to hear again.
Natalie Tecimer, president and founder, who is hearing-impaired herself, started this organization her freshman year with the hopes of raising awareness about hearing-impaired children all over the world.
"The whole idea behind EARS is that it is a transnational advocacy network, we are advocating and we want kids to self-advocate for being hard of hearing and making it work for them," Tecimer said.
Just one year after becoming a nonprofit, EARS has raised over $20,000. That money went directly toward purchasing hearing aids for 30 children in rural India.
"The little things we take for granted…you are giving them the gift of sound which is pretty awesome," Tecimer added.
The group also works with a local elementary school through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing program.
EARS recently received a grant from the Jamshetji Tata Trust for over $350,000 that will cover the funds for 30 children to receive hearing aids and five children to receive cochlear implants annually for three years. In total, 105 kids will have be served.
"You really want to give a gift that is really sustainable… We wanted to give these kids pretty much the best product so I asked them if we can make it $360,000 and they said yes. So thats why we have a $368,000 grant," Tecimer said.
Shayna Cooperman, another member of the group, says she is extremely attached to this organization because she too knows how it feels to stand alone in silence.
"It's definitely a cause that is close to my heart. I think I was very lucky to grow up in a household where I was pushed to consider myself normal,” Cooperman said. “It’s important that other children [in] the surrounding area get that same experience because it is possible.”
The EARS organization just received funding from the LAUSD to continue providing their services to local children.
