AmVets bears for the hard of hearing

HEARING BEARS:
AmVets supporters and leaders put their sewing skills to the test to make hearing aid bears such as these held in the hands of Debbi Johnson, Victoria Gray and Courtney Terry.

AmVets Ladies' Auxiliary hosted the annual Teddy bear stuffing at the Veteran's Hall Saturday, April 4. Starting at 10 a.m., the participants started stuffing and sewing Teddy bears that would later be delivered to hard-of-hearing children at the John Tracy Clinic.

Every bear that was stitched together was equipped with a hearing aid.

Debbi Johnson, second vice president of the AmVets Ladies' Auxiliary, led the event.

"We have been hosting this event for several years, reaching out to families trying to communicate with their deaf children," Johnson explained.

"We also provide correspondent courses to help parents learn about hearing loss, deafness, and solutions for parents and children to work with each other," she said.

AmVets has been supporting the veterans community for many years, and has for the past several years also collected hearing aids and given out information to different hearing centers in an effort to give more people the ability to hear.

"Our main focus is the veterans and currently deployed soldiers," says Johnson. "Working on the child welfare programs provides a nice sideline effort for AmVets."

Approximately 15 people stopped by to lend a hand during the five hours that it took to cut out the stuffed animal parts and stitch up the fabric for close to 100 Teddy bears, said Victoria Gray.

"We were almost able to complete 100 of these hand-stitched bears, but we will have to meet up again to finish them up. After the bears are finished, they will be taken to the John Tracy Clinic to be handed out to the students," Gray said.

The John Tracy Clinic hands out the bears during the school year with help from the AmVets.

"We are looking forward to having more participants in the sewing process next year," Gray said.