Statements
Mission
Songs for Sound is a 501c3 charity founded on a heartwarming story & a passionate objective: to provide AWARENESS OF hearing loss solutions, ACCESS TO hearing loss testing and devices and encourage ACTION for those suffering from hearing loss and deafness. Songs for Sound aims to provide everyone with an opportunity to live a mainstream life full of sound and language, and of course, MUSIC.Let love be our greatest aim. 1 Corinthians 14:1
Background
Founder's Storyby Jaime Vernon When our daughter Lexi was born in 2007, for some reason she was not given a newborn hearing screening at our Nashville hospital. We didn't realize we had missed a test.At a hearing evaluation when she was 10 weeks old, the doctor said Lexi passed in one ear, but they couldn't get a good read on the other ear "because she is fussy". We were advised to follow up in six months.When Lexi was 10 or 11 months of age, we noticed she wasn't responding to loud noises such as dogs barking. She wasn't trying to mimic sounds or first words. We thought she had fluid in the ear or something else minor causing her to not hear well, but to be safe we made an appointment with our pediatrician.The pediatrician told us, "She's fine; let's wait. Some children don't talk until 18 months of age." Despite this assurance, we felt we needed confirmation and pushed to get a referral to a specialist. This is where our story really begins.One month after the pediatrician's assessment, we made our way to the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center in Nashville. The audiologist ran additional tests and told us that Lexi was in fact deaf. She was diagnosed with a profound, bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss.As a parent, you're only allowed a few moments to process. So I collected myself and rattled off terms I knew, like sign language, special schools, etc. That was the day we first heard about the cochlear implant. And that changed everything.At that point, we met David Haynes, M.D., Director of Vanderbilt's cochlear implant program. We call him our "hearing healer" for all he has done for our family, including both implantations. The right ear was activated on a Friday and her left ear activated the following Monday. Lexi was 19 months old.Lexi was essentially in a soundless world for a year and a half leading up to her activation day. She immediately started speech therapy and began attending Vanderbilt's Mama Lere Hearing School, which integrates with a mainstream preschool a couple days a week so the students with hearing loss are exposed to talkative children.What has brought us where we are today? A pathway to hearing healthcare. Our family had to create it. It was not handed to us nor were the steps to hearing and mainstreaming laid out. We had to look for it, create it, fight for it. Now, we create that pathway for everyone suffering from hearing loss and deafness who don't know how to get help, where to get help and how to afford it.
Impact
2015-19 Accomplishments: To date, the Hear the Music Project has provided 25,000+ free hearing tests and 40,000+ pairs of hearing protection at 800+ free events across the US. We equip everyone with printed packets of follow up information to the best Audiologists; we also deliver this information electronically and they can always reach us if they need further assistance.Songs for Sound informs thousands each year, directly, about their hearing loss, but our total impressions from social media, live appearances including television and radio, as well as the number of people who see our moving billboard -- our mobile hearing clinic coast to coast, we reach a total of 50+ MILLION/annually total people making an impression regarding hearing health.The Hearoes Tour (formerly known as The Hear the Music Project) identifies hearing loss in 56% of visitors overall. This includes 85% of senior Veterans, 65% of middle-age Veterans, 67% of senior citizens, and 38% of underserved children. Each visitor walks away from our free clinic with a 'Next Steps of Care' checklist and audiology clinic finder based not he results of their hearing screening to encourage them to take charge of their hearing health. Songs for Sound offers an ANNUAL free Hear the Music Kids Camp in Scottsville, Kentucky. We invite 32 families with children with hearing loss from 5-6 states, including Middle Tennessee, and their families to enjoy horseback riding, boating, swimming, archery, songwriting and more on 140 acres with breakout sessions for parents to gain valuable perspective regarding: - school systems & barriers to classroom learning; - music appreciation; - athletic success strategies; - youth empowerment/advocacy. To date, we've donated nearly $200,000 to hearing programsWe serve Eden, Jamaica where we are using our service to the Jamaica Christian School for the Deaf as the foundation for a program focused on early intervention and intervention strategies including new partnerships with organizations also serving Jamaica hearing loss and deaf populations; currently, our partnership includes establishing the first hearing clinic in Montego Bay, Jamaica.Our long-term goals in Jamaica are to establish hearing health awareness and intervention strategies for all ages in this beautiful country while advancing plans to staff the country with graduate students in hearing and speech sciences, as well as encouraging hearing health related fields to native Jamaican graduates. Goals for 2020-231. Continue the Hearoes National Tour aimed at reaching 50,000 free screenings by 2022. Further develop this program with more resources and more hearing health prevention information/resources. 2. Our Emeritus board member and long-time friend, John Hardaway, passed away. In his memory, donations were made for a seed of funds to help us build a standing facility for care in Nashville/surrounding. We are in early plans for a capital campaign and also a long-term building/program plan. 2. Further develop a breakout of our tour serve veterans more intentionally which is already underway, the Hearoes Program. The Hear the Music Project finds 85% of veterans fail their hearing screenings so we are creating a separate tour to bring hearing health services (similar to Hear the Music Project) to veterans/military organizations & events, air shows, etc. We will help veterans who qualify to navigate the VA or private Audiology. 3. Send 32 families from Middle Tennessee to our free Hear the Music Kids Camp, March 2020, at the Center for Courageous Kids in Scottsville, KY. 4. Launch the Sound Network, a partnership with local businesses and organizations to conduct the mission when we leave an area. 6. Continue to build partnerships with organizations such as the American Academy of Audiology, Student Association of Audiology, AG Bell and more which will offset our areas of weakness. While we can band
Needs
1. Financial Support - MAJOR GIFTSWith our growth, it is imperative we receive support to grow internally. Sponsors, donations and grants. 2. A second mobile clinic, tour manager and truck.We are receiving more requests for our services than we can handle. A second tour and unit would allow us to accomodate a majority of the requests due to the unique routing limitations. 3. Financial Support - ANNUAL GIVINGSongs for Sound recognizes annual giving can make a significant impact on the fundraising success of charities. Without support---gifts of ANY AMOUNT--Songs for Sound will not survive. We encourage small-medium size business to support through sponsorships at our events or outright donations to help us grow our support to hearing programs, families and more. 4. PARTNERSHIPS - DONATED GOODS & SERVICESSongs for Sound needs gifts of all kinds, including gifts-in-kind. If you are a business owner who can donate cuisine to our events, services such as wait staff or security, a gorgeous venue and more...please consider Songs for Sound!
CEO Statement
This is your chance to change the course of the life of a child, a veteran, a grandmother/grandfather, or even a parent. An average reading level of third grade is typical of graduates of deaf education programs in the United States. 60% of Veterans post 9-11 suffer from hearing loss, but haven't take action because they don't know of the benefits offered through the VA (free services, free hearing aids and more). Senior Citizens are increasingly experiencing cognitive decline, often due to hearing loss. If we don't supply our brains with it's fuel, sound and information, then it cannot function properly. This is, simply put, AVOIDABLE. Songs for Sound wants to create a bridge, a conduit for individuals to have a clear pathway to SOUND & a life full of HOPE by supporting the amazing programs that already exist: HEARING, AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH CENTERS. We are their hands and feet. Just like we knew NOTHING about COCHLEAR IMPLANTS when our daughter, Lexi Vernon, was diagnosed at 13 months old, many others no NOTHING about cochlear implants, hearing aid technology or how to get the care they deserve. The average time it takes before a deaf person hears of a cochlear implant is 11-12 years. There are 360 MILLION people worldwide who suffer from hearing loss and don't know where to go or what to do. PLEASE help US help THEM ... HEAR. Best,Jaime VernonFounder/Director
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Human Services - Deaf/Hearing Impaired Centers, Services |
| Secondary Category: | Health Care - |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
Nationwide, USA Nashville, TNMontego Bay, Jamaica
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Davidson |
| TN |
| KY |
