New York Yankees Help People To Hear Again
By Charles Carsten
Starkey Hearing Foundation has teamed up with the New York Yankees, the Minnesota Vikings, the Wilf Family Foundations and The Jewish Federations of North America to provide free hearing aids to people in need. The hearing mission provides the gift of hearing to nearly 100 children and adults with hearing loss, including more than 20 Holocaust survivors from the New York City area.
Starkey Hearing Foundation’s team of experts provides pre-selected recipients with complimentary, customized, state-of-the-art, digital hearing devices. The team is joined by Mark and Lenny Wilf of the Minnesota Vikings, New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, author and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel, television personality Daymond John, actress Dascha Polanco and other celebrities and VIPs who assisted with fittings and signed autographs.
“Starkey Hearing Foundation has been hosting an annual hearing mission at Yankee Stadium since 2010, and we are excited to return to New York,” said William F. Austin, founder of Starkey Hearing Foundation. “Thanks to the continued generosity of the New York Yankees, the Minnesota Vikings and the Wilf Family Foundations, we are able to make a tremendous impact in the lives of nearly 100 New Yorkers. This year’s mission was especially meaningful because we were able to share the gift of hearing with Holocaust survivors, helping them to connect to their families and communities.”
“Being part of a family who are Holocaust survivors, this is an extremely important cause,” said Vikings vice chairman Lenny Wilf. “There are over 30,000 survivors in the U.S. who need assistance, and under Mark Wilf’s leadership we are raising funds to meet their social service needs through Jewish federations. Accordingly, if we can play a role in bettering the lives of these survivors and children in need, we need to participate. We appreciate the opportunity Starkey Hearing Foundation has provided for the Vikings organization and our family to join forces with the Yankees on this endeavor.”
“We are very pleased to have once again hosted the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s annual hearing mission at Yankee Stadium,” said Lonn Trost, Yankees chief operating officer and general counsel. “It is an honor to have a part in providing a better quality of life for New York-area children and Holocaust survivors. We congratulate the entire Starkey team on their tireless efforts to provide complimentary hearing devices to those in need around the world.”
Helping Holocaust survivors is part of Jewish Federation’s National Holocaust Survivor Initiative. By giving the gift of hearing, Starkey Hearing Foundation is providing dignity and reducing social isolation to a particularly vulnerable population. The National Holocaust Survivor Initiative links support from foundations, private citizens, and federal, state and local governments to help aging Holocaust survivors live their final years with dignity and security in the comfort of their communities.
About Starkey Hearing Foundation
Starkey Hearing Foundation uses hearing as a vehicle to reflect caring and change lives around the world. Disabling hearing loss affects more than 360 million people, including 32 million children, worldwide, yet many do not have access to the hearing devices that can help them. As a member of Clinton Global Initiative, Starkey Hearing Foundation has pledged to provide more than one million hearing aids to people in need this decade and currently gives more than 175,000 hearing aids annually. For more information on Starkey Hearing Foundation, please visit starkeyhearingfoundation.org.
About the New York Yankees
Founded in 1903 and just concluded their 113th season, the New York Yankees are the most successful and popular team in Major League Baseball history, having won 27 championships while appearing in 40 World Series and this year’s post season. As a result of their on-field accomplishments and iconic interlocking “NY” logo, the Yankees are among the most recognized brands in the world.
