Girl regains hearing thanks to Society
| Tuesday, Dec 08 2009 03:35 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Dec 08 2009 03:36 PM
Bakersfield is a generous community, particularly during the holidays. To help readers find new ways to give back to neighbors and friends, The Californian is featuring a wide array of nonprofit organizations this season.
You can help the Society for Disabled Children in many ways, both large and small through:
* Craft and art supplies
* Board games
* Sports toys
* Funding for Camp Blue Jay transportation, food and other expenses
* Financial support for mobile speech therapy program
* Office equipment and supplies
Society for Disabled Children:
1819 Brundage Lane
Bakersfield, CA 93304
322-5595
Images:
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Breanna Santana has benefited from the Society for Disabled Children who bought a molded hearing aid for her.
Josie Santana would have been happy with gas money.
But the Society for Disabled Children went above and beyond -- giving Santana's daughter her hearing back instead.
It started when Santana's 9 year old, Breanna , broke her hearing aid at school, silencing most of her world.
With the small, fragile devices, Breanna can understand people through a mix of hearing and reading lips.
"If she doesn't have hearing aids, she can't hear us at all," Santana said.
It means hours of frustration at school as she struggles to communicate with teachers. And then there's the teasing from older students.
Santana didn't have the nearly $500 needed to replace the device and the ear moldings for it on her disability pay.
"I'm blessed just to have this house and have food," Santana said.
No hearing aid businesses in Bakersfield take her daughter's government insurance so Santana looked for help getting Breanna where she needed to go.
The Society for Disabled Children had helped before, donating some money for gas.
So Santana visited the nonprofit's Brundage Lane offices.
"I was hoping for some gas money," she said.
Society board members instead voted to replace Breanna's hearing aid.
The Society for Disabled Children was born in Bakersfield in 1947 and provides services to children with all manners of disability -- from mental and developmental challenges to physical barriers like Breanna's.
With four full-time employees and one part-time speech therapist, the group is not one of Bakersfield's largest do-gooding groups.
But Executive Director Patricia Henson said the organization has soldiered through tough times with the help of dedicated supporters.
"Our loyal donors have kept us functioning," Henson said. "Everyone has a cause that's worthy. Our challenge as a small nonprofit is competing with the organizations with a national profile."
But the Society board loves to help when it has a chance, she said.
She saw such a chance when Josie Santana walked into her offices.
Henson brought the story of Breanna's broken hearing aid to the board.
It bought the girl a new device, paid for the ear-molding process and threw in a year's worth of batteries.
"I wouldn't have been able to do it," Santana said.
Henson said the Society will continue doing things like it did for Breanna.
And it's focused, she said, on continuing to support the monthly and annual services it provides.
The biggest need, Henson said, is support for Camp Blue Jay -- a summer camp for children with disabilities.
Kern Regional Center, which has sent clients to the camp, was unable to continue to help pay for the week-long mountain adventure for the children, Henson said.
Parents "are calling us on the phone saying, 'We're really sad to hear camp is cancelled,'" Henson said.
She tells them Camp Blue Jay will continue this summer.
But the Society needs help funding it -- through direct financial gifts or support for transportation, food, equipment and games, Henson said.
Tip: If you want to give a small gift, the children really love games. "Pass the Pickle" is a favorite with campers.
Henson is also looking for financial support for a new program she wants to start -- offering mobile speech therapy services for children age 3 to 5 in Arvin and Lamont.
"Families in those areas can't afford to come here" for therapy, Henson said.
In the end, Henson said, the goal is to help as many disabled children as possible.
"The goal is to help everybody," she said.
With Breanna Santana, the Society succeeded.
