The United Way of Central Carolinas released its allocation decisions on June 24th. CSHC received a reduction of 30.8% compared to what we received in our 2008-2009 fiscal year ($293,975 compared to $444,213). We were relieved that the cuts were not as severe as they could have been given the 41% campaign shortfall. We are grateful for the support from our Council and the staff at United Way who were instrumental in ensuring that we continue to receive funding. The Allocation Panel was highly complimentary of our efforts and were impressed with the impact of our programs. United Way support will drop to 23.2% of our 09-10 budget (30.7% in 08-09). While these reductions are significant we hope that sound business practices as well as support from the community will allow us to minimize the effect on services to those in need. We are thankful to Carlos Evans, Mac Everett, and United Way volunteers for their efforts and leadership in this challenging time and look ahead to better days.

Gift from Sisters of Mercy of NC Foundation, Inc.
We would like to express our appreciation to the Sisters of Mercy for their $40,000 grant to CSHC. This gift will support our language and literacy outreach programs

CSHC opened its Hearing Services Bank (HSB) in 1973 and has provided thousands of free hearing aids to low-income seniors over the years. The ability to communicate provides an increased quality of life, a sense of security and a path to independence for older adults. In 2006 the HSB was expanded to include low-income children as well as seniors. If a child misses out on the early exposure to language their academic and overall development will be severely effected. Providing critical audiology services to a young child with a hearing impairment will drastically improve their language, literacy, academic, and overall development. We recently further broadened the reach of our HSB by adopting a sliding fee scale. This scale allows families who fall just above the income cap for free services to qualify for a significantly reduced rate that provides the gift of hearing they otherwise could not afford.

Services for our HSB (and other) clients got a boost In May when we welcomed our new audiologist, Dr. Amanda Scobey. She and Maggie Page (Hearing Instrument Specialist) make an amazing team of highly qualified and caring professionals that can work with clients of all ages and all types of hearing disorders. Funding for the HSB comes from the United Way, individuals and a variety of foundations. Revenue from hearing aid sales to paying clients also funds the HSB; your business and referrals are appreciated. This support provides the joy of sound and the precious gift of communication to so many.