In April 2012, Earl Milbrath from Chanhassen Rotary Club came down to Chimbote with his friend Jerry Brecke from Excelsior Rotary Club. Both Clubs are located in Minessota-USA. Earl Milbrath, since many years ago, is very devoted to work in favor of the poor of Chimbote in order to help them improve their quality of life through several projects. One night in a meeting, while here in Chimbote, Jerry shared he wears hearing aids which help him to hear very well and this way his hearing level improved. He was informed there are people in Chimbote who can not hear very well for some reasons and therefore need improving their hearing sense. Jerry shared he knows an organization in the USA, called STARKEY FOUNDATION, making hearing aids. He also said he is very willing to talk personally with people of that organization to see the possibility for them to donate hearing aids to Chimbote people. He and Earl committed to work on this new project.
The STARKEY FOUNDATION is one of the largest manufacturers of hearing aids in the United States and is located in Eden Prairie, right next to Chanhassen-Minnesota-USA. It gave away over 120,000 hearing aids around the world in 2011. Well, when back in the USA, Jerry talked to Starkey Foundation officers on the need in Chimbote regarding hearing aids issue and they surprisingly said that Starkey Foundation agrees to donate 2000 hearing aids to Chimbote people and so "The Starkey/Rotary Gift of Hearing Project: For the World to Be Able to Hear" was born.
Another good news is that Starkey Foundation will donate hearing aids to five northern Peruvian cities: Chimbote, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Piura and Iquitos. Jerry and Earl informed they anticipate more than 10,000 hearing aids will be give away in the five cities which means 2000 in average in each city.
In this project, Jerry Brecke is the contact to the Starkey Foundation and Earl Milbrath is the U.S. coordinator. This project will become a reality through Chimbote Rotary Club. So, Earl Milbrath made contact to the officers of the Chimbote Rotary Club and Orlando Bermúdez was elected as the coordinator of the Hearing project for the five northern Peruvian cities and María Julia as the coordinator for Chimbote.
They are coordinating with Juan Simon, the governor of Rotary District 4460 in northern Peru which includes the five cities. So, Orlando, María Julia and Chimbote Rotary Club members started promoting, since last year 2012, "The Starkey/Rotary Gift of Hearing Project: For the World to Be Able to Hear" in Chimbote and surrounding cities such as: Coischo, Santa, Nuevo Chimbote, Casma, Huarmey, etc. letting people know on hearing aids donation.
The project has been divided into two phases. The first one includes examination and mold making for each patient; then, the molds will be sent to the Starkey Foundation in the USA. In the second one, technicians and specialties from Starkey Foundation will come down to Chimbote to check out patient's ears, give hearing aids to them and also to trained them how to use it (turn it on, off, change battery, etc.).
In the meantime in the USA, Jerry Brecke, Earl Milbrath and his wife Carol Milbrath received training on examination and mold making at Starkey. The three of them came down to Chimbote on Wednesday January 23 to Tuesday January 30th and trained Chimbote Rotary Club members and other volunteers on examination and mold making.
The first phase of the hearing aids donation campaign called "The Starkey/Rotary Gift of Hearing Project: For the World to be Able to Hear" started in Chimbote on Saturday January 26th to on Friday February 22nd and took place at Chimbote Rotary Club facilities. 3500 people were attended in total.
--------------- Traducción al Español ---------------
LA FUNDACIÓN STARKEY Y ROTARY DE USA SE ASOCIARON PARA DONAR AUDÍFONOS A LA POBLACIÓN DE CHIMBOTE
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