Each year in Virginia, young children who are deaf and hard of hearing fall behind because their hearing loss is identified late. This can lead to speech and language delays, poor cognitive growth, low early literacy skills, and failure to thrive in school.
Visit the "Listen Up!" website.
About the Program:
The objective is to educate families and communities about early childhood hearing loss and provide free hearing screenings to children 2- 5 years of age, in order to find deaf and hard of hearing children at an earlier age.
The program was launched by District 24-C in April 2025. It is being introduced with informational Road Shows that explain the structured rollout, leadership, and the recruitment and training of volunteers in our district to serve on Teams.
Program Leadership:
Program Champions:
- PCC Jean Cook -- cookjean548@gmail.com
- Lion Valerie James Abbott --valeriejamesabbott@gmail.com
24-L Regional Coordinators:
- Lion Evelyn Marr -- remlik@verizon.net
- Lion Sandy Smith -- sandyclaresmith@gmail.com
Additional Information:
- WDBJ7 News Coverage -- Groundbreaking initiative to improve access to hearing screening for kids
- HLAA Webinar -- Catching Kids Before They Fall: Pediatric Late Onset Hearing Loss Awareness
- ALHA Newswire -- A National Push for Continuous Early Hearing Screening
In Our District:
This program is uniquely organized. It is not fulfilled by clubs but rather, by Teams which can be comprised of Lions from several clubs.
- Phase One: Hold Road Shows -- These are in-person or Zoom sessions of 1-1 1/2 hours explaining all the aspects of the program.
- Phase Two: Sign Up Volunteers -- Enroll people who are committed to putting the program in place.
- Phase Three: Training -- This will start in the Spring of 2026.
- Phase Four: Team Set Up -- Those trained will be assigned to Teams of about 20volunteers.
Schedule a Road Show:
To book a Road Show, contact Evelyn, Sandy, Valerie, or Jean.
Join a Road Show:
- Monday, February 23 at 6:00pm -- St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 1201 Courthouse Road, Stafford -- Contact Sally Cooney Anderson
- Saturday, February 28 at 10am -- Park West -- Contact Roselee Bielec
- Friday, March 20 at 6:30pm -- Spotsylvania Courthouse -- Contact Jill Bates
- Saturday, March 21 at 1:00pm -- Herndon -- Contact Davida Luehrs
- Saturday, March 29 from 1-4pm -- Winchester Host -- Contact Sandy Smith
- Saturday, April 25 -- Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton
And, how will this be funded?
There will be opportunities for grant requests, corporate support, and club and individual sponsorships. More on this to come soon as well.